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BOYS' BOOK 
OF SEA FIGHTS 

Famous Naval Engagements 
From Drake to Beatty 



BY 

CHELSEA CURTIS FRASER 

AUTHOR OF 
"BOYS' BOOK OF BATTLES," ETC. 



With Maps by the Author 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



s 



">A\ 



Copyright, 1920 
By THOMAS Y. CROWELL. COMPANY 



St? "3 \w 
©CI.A597263 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Sir Francis Drake 

Early Adventures 3 

Plundering the Spanish Main 13 

The Riches of the New Ocean 22 

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada ... 32 

II Marshal Anne-Hilarion de Tourville 

A Knight of Malta 45 

Punishing the Barbary Pirates ... . . 52 

III Commodore John Paul Jones 

From Toy Ships to Big Ships 65 

The Drake and the Ranger 72 

The Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis . 80 

IV Lord Horatio Nelson 

A Great Sea King 99 

The Fight of the Nile 108 

The Victory of Trafalgar 115 

V The Burning of the "Philadelphia" . . . 125 

VI Perry's Victory on Lake Erie 139 

VII The "Constitution" and the "Guerriere" 

An Exciting Chase 157 

An Unexpected Meeting 163 

VIII The Ship that Strangely Disappeared . . . 177 

iii 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IX The "Monitor" and the "Merrimac" 

The "Quaker Meetin'-House Floating Down 

the Bay" 193 

The "Cheese-Box on a Raft" 204 

X Admiral David Farragut 

Breaking into the Mississippi 221 

The Capture of New Orleans 234 

Port Hudson and Mobile Bay 240 

XI Dewey at Manila Bay 255 

XII The Battle of Santiago Harbor 

Hobson's Daring Exploit 275 

The Destruction of Cervera's Fleet .... 283 

XIII The Running Fight off the Falklands . . 297 

XIV The Battle off Jutland Bank 315 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

British Battle Fleet in Action in the North Sea 

Frontispiece 

Defeat of the Spanish Armada (Map) 2 

Sir Francis Drake 8 

Defeat of the Spanish Armada 24 

The Battle of Palmero (Map) 44 

Marshal de Tourville 56 

Engagement of the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis 

(Map) 64 

John Paul Jones 66 

The Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis ... J2 

The Battle of Trafalgar (Map) 98 

The Battle of Trafalgar 120 

Scene of the Philadelphia Exploit (Map) . . ... 126 

Scene of the Battle of Lake Erie (Map) 140 

The Battle of Lake Erie 152 

The Constitution and the Guerriere (Map) . . . .156 

The Constitution and the Guerriere 168 

The Wasp and the Reindeer (Map) 178 

The Monitor and the Merrimac (Map) . . . . . 192 

The Monitor and the Merrimac 216 

Battle of Mobile Bay (Map) 220 

Admiral Farragut 232 

v 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Battle of Manila Bay (Map) 256 

U. S. S. Olympia 264 

Battle of Santiago Harbor (Map) 274 

U. S. S. New York 280 

Battle of the Falklands (Map) 298 

Admiral Sturdee 312 

Battle of Jutland (Map) 316 

Admiral Beatty 328 



FOREWORD 

Because <of the cordial welcome given by 
young readers to my preceding historical work, 
"Boys' Book of Battles," the publishers have 
asked me to write a companion volume. Hence 
you are, in these pages, introduced to the "Boys' 
Book of Sea Fights." 

That the sea has furnished its full quota of 
thrilling and important conflicts in the history 
of mankind, standing a close second in this wise 
to the land, there can be no doubt ; the concensus 
of opinion among students discloses it, the ar- 
chives of nations prove it. Moreover, for spec- 
tacular exploits of both individuals and small 
bodies of men, the sea has ever been a leader. 
Its very structure is a constant threat of death 
or stirring adventure, presented at the most un- 
expected moments; and when to this peril is 
added the chance of encountering hostile ships, 
we cannot wonder that sailors have performed 
deeds of surpassing heroism, and accepted su- 
preme sacrifices for the sake of their country 
that thrill us to the very core of our bodies. 

This book tells the tale of sailors at war. Its 

vii 



viii FOREWORD 

heroes are real heroes — men .who have lived, who 
have performed the very deeds recorded of them, 
so far as careful research can verify. They are 
not the sailors of any one country or nation, but 
of many countries and nations — which fact, it 
seems to me, really makes them no less brave and 
their deeds no less worthy of recounting. Valor 
and patriotism, no matter by whom displayed, 
surely ought to meet with our admiration and 
stir us to like deeds for our own people and our 
own country. 

C. C. F. 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 

Great golden galleons plied the Main; 
He hit them hard, again, again ; 
And with his fleet of British ship 
Forever broke Spain's tyrant grip. 

— Fiske. 



Sir Francis Drake 

EARLY ADVENTURES 

The stirring times into which young Drake 
was born acted as a forcing-house for the growth 
of character. Boys turned into men at a leap. 
Bred in a nursery whose very atmosphere was 
war and revolution, they were trained by danger 
and privation to fight battles at an age when the 
boy of to-day is making ready to take up his 
school life. The strange mixture of lax moral 
standards and fierce religious passions, the prev- 
alence of an unwonted bigotry, the light esteem in 
which human life was held, the rapid succession 
of startling events, the persecutions carried on 
in the name of a holy cause, — all went to forge 
men of singular and violent contrasts. 

Sir Francis Drake, the foremost sailor of the 
Reformation, the chief pirate of Queen Elizabeth, 
was one of these men. No name in England's 
annals of the sea has been surrounded with so 
dazzling a setting of romance as his. During 
his whole lifetime Drake's adventures found no 
place in sober history. They invaded the realm 
of folklore and took strong hold on the popular 
fancy in the shape of marvelous tales and legends. 



4 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Yet there was a solid foundation to them for all 
of that, and rising out of this wonderland of 
romance the record of mankind must ever show 
that this daring boy of Devon was one of the 
most skillful of navigators as well as the first 
really great admiral in the development of mod- 
ern naval science, which had its cradle in Eng- 
land, and which substituted the sailing-navy for 
the ancient rowing-navy. 

Born in 1544, in the heat of the strife between 
Catholics and Protestants, little Francis held 
a fierce hatred for Spain and her subjects. His 
father, Edmund Drake, was one of the most zeal- 
ous of Protestants, with a gift for preaching 
which he often used. He made no effort to hide 
his religious attitude, although Devon was known 
to be mainly Catholic, but went about boldly and 
fearlessly asserting his views. 

This action could have but one outcome. 
The Catholic faction made it so hot for all Prot- 
estants in Devon, and for Edmund Drake in par- 
ticular, that he fled with little Francis to St. 
Nicholas Island, in the harbor of Plymouth. In 
Chatham reach, beyond the dockyard, at the 
mouth of the Medway, was the anchorage of ves- 
sels out of commission, of war-ships, and of old 
and useless hulks. Here the Protestant preacher 
was given an appointment under King Edward 
as "Reader of Prayers to the Royal Navy," 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 5 

and was assigned a rotting hulk as a dwelling- 
place. 

But to young Francis it was no rotting hulk 
— rather a palace of the most intoxicating de- 
lights. Seldom did he care to go ashore. All 
day long he climbed the masts of his new float- 
ing home, raced across the old weather-beaten 
decks, or delved into the below-decks mysteries 
of the veteran craft. And when night would 
come he often fell asleep in the midst of his be- 
loved old war-ship's guns, rocked by the heaving 
waves and solaced into the last deep oblivion by 
the lisping tide and the lullaby of the sailors' 
songs. 

Edmund Drake had hoped to place his boy in 
the navy, with the patronage of Edward VI and 
the powerful Earl of Bedford, but his expecta- 
tion was shattered by a rude change. King Ed- 
ward died. "Bloody Mary," the Catholic Queen, 
succeeded to the throne, and the land was threat- 
ened with a prince of Spain as husband to the 
Queen. 

Then it was that the gathering storm of the 
Reformation suddenly burst and threw all Eng- 
land into a turmoil. Francis's father lost his 
position, and was forced to apprentice his son 
as ship's-boy on a craft that carried on a coasting 
trade with France and Holland. It was on this 
channel coaster that the sailor lad, exposed to 



6 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

great privations and severe conditions, gained 
some of the most valuable lessons of his experi- 
ence. 

While his young body was being steeled to 
every conceivable form of hardship, his spirit 
was being trained for future revenges on the 
Spanish Main. Passionate tales of the horrors 
of the Inquisition were being told by Flemish 
refugees on quay and shipboard. The persecu- 
tions of Philip, King of Spain, in the Nether- 
lands, fanned the flame of the English Reforma- 
tion, and Francis Drake found himself, presently, 
in the center of the hottest frenzy of religious 
feeling. Small wonder that he grew to man's 
estate with that implacable hatred of the very 
name of Spain which furnished the motive power 
of his subsequent brilliant career. 

In the meantime events followed one another 
rapidly. Bloody Mary had passed away, Eliza- 
beth reigned, and the Protestants were once more 
in favor. Francis had grown from boy to youth ; 
his master skipper had died and bequeathed him 
his little craft on which to begin life as an in- 
dependent trader. 

Open war with Spain had not yet been de- 
clared; but the rupture was imminent. Cruel 
reprisals by private individuals on both sides 
were rapidly paving the way for the coming 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 7 

break. The Channel swarmed with sea-rovers. 
Four hundred adventurers swept the narrow 
stretches of water in search of plunder. The 
enormous wealth of the Spanish trade courted 
depredation in those loose-moraled times when it 
was not the fashion to be as strictly honest with 
the belongings of one's neighbor as it is to-day. 
Spanish galleons were chased and scuttled. 
Catholic vessels of other nations, particularly 
France, were considered legitimate prey for loot- 
ing. Rich cargoes of saffron, cochineal, wool, 
silk, gold, silver, pearls and precious stones, linen, 
tapestry and wines, were carried off to the 
pirates' lairs on the Isle of Wight and in the 
creeks and inlets of the Irish coast. In revenge, 
British ships were seized in Spanish ports, and 
many English sailors were thrown into the dun- 
geons of the infamous Inquisition. 

Forced to quit his independent trading on ac- 
count of its unprofitableness, young Drake en- 
tered the only service that then seemed open to 
him — that of his famous kinsmen, Captains John 
and William Hawkins, the rich ship-owners and 
pirate merchants of Plymouth. The chief sea- 
port town of picturesque Devon might well have 
been called one of the pirate centers of the Eng- 
lish coast. Its harbor was large and safe, and 
many precious cargoes, obtained by foul means 



8 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

as well as fair, were brought in by daring ad- 
venturers who had scoured the limited sea in 
search of riches. Neither gold nor excitement 
were hard to find in those days, and Plymouth be- 
came, by reason of its peculiar accessibility and 
additional virtues, a favorite port for the bold 
crews. 

In October, 1567, Drake set sail from Ply- 
mouth harbor as pilot to John Hawkins. In the 
squadron were six vessels, all armed and vict- 
ualled for a long voyage. This expedition was 
destined to turn the scale of commercial supre- 
macy and complete the antagonism existing be- 
tween England and Spain. 

In Queen Elizabeth's time neither the navy 
nor the maritime commerce of England were es- 
tablished on a regular footing. The navy, used 
simply as an adjunct to the army, had remained 
an undeveloped independent instrument of na- 
tional power, and the vastness of its resources 
were still undreamed of. Later on, Drake 
proved the wonderful possibilities of a strongly 
equipped fleet in war time, by turning the enemy's 
coastline into the center of hostilities and by de- 
stroying his trade with foreign countries. 

But meanwhile the fleets of war and commerce 
were intermingled. In time of peace Queen 
Elizabeth used her men-of-war for merchant- 
men, while in war time she added her real mer- 




SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, KT. 

From the engraving by VV. Holl; after F. Zucchero's picture in the 
possession of Lady Elliott Drake. 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 9 

chantmen to her force of fighting craft. In this 
way it became exceedingly difficult to draw the 
line between official naval expeditions and private 
commercial enterprises, the last-named of which, 
as already shown, were frequently synonymous 
with buccaneering. This state of affairs worked 
to the disadvantage of her adversaries and much 
to the advantage of the Queen at times. On 
other occasions the benefits were reversed. Al- 
together it proved an ill arrangement. 

Often the Queen was one of the shareholders 
in the filibustering expeditions of Hawkins and 
Drake, and contributed some ships of war to the 
outfit. She was too much allured by the prospect 
of untold riches in gold, silver, pearls and pre- 
cious stones to resist the temptation of enriching 
her private coffers by becoming a secret partner 
in the buccaneering ventures of her favorite 
pirates. 

However, when Spanish ambassadors and the 
diplomats of other victimized powers called per- 
emptorily for satisfaction, she was careful to 
assume indignation and disapproval of the prac- 
tices of her unruly subjects. And while she 
always welcomed the precious cargoes brought 
back to her by her partners in adventure, the men 
themselves were not always sure of her approval. 
Such was her vacillating trend of mind that one 
time she might bestow upon the returned hero 



io BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

the honors of knighthood, and the next time send 
the poor fellow to the gallows. 

But the game was worth the candle, and so it 
was that on that October day in 1567 Hawkins 
and Drake sailed out of Plymouth harbor with 
what amounted to a naval squadron, loaded with 
ammunition and numerous heavy guns. Accom- 
panying them were two ships-of-war, the Minion 
and the Jesus, especially loaned by Elizabeth her- 
self. 

From the very first the squadron met with 
bad weather. Near Cape Finisterre a violent 
storm damaged and scattered many of the ves- 
sels, but they succeeded in reaching their first 
rendezvous at the Canary Islands. From there 
they sailed southward to the coast of Guinea, 
in western Africa, where the traders spent sev- 
eral months in collecting negroes as slaves. 

Partly by means of the sword, and partly by 
exchange of scarlet coats and beads, they suc- 
ceeded in storing away in their holds as many as 
five hundred of the black men. Thus equipped 
with trading material, they crossed over to the 
Caribbean Sea, reaching the West Indies in the 
following March. 

As traffic had been forbidden in the colonies 
by the Spanish government, they found it no 
easy matter to dispose of their cargo. Rio de la 
Hacha brought them up with a start by presump- 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE n 

tuously firing upon the merchant fleet. To this 
rude greeting Hawkins and Drake retaliated 
with equal severity. They blockaded the port, 
stormed the defenses and carried the town by 
impetuous assault. Then, in secret and under 
cover of the night, the unlawful trade began, and 
two hundred slaves were exchanged for gold, 
silver and pearls, sugar and hides. 

The leaders were so well pleased with their 
valuable cargo that they decided to sail at once 
for home. Unfortunately, however, they had 
tarried a bit too long in those treacherous waters. 
Two fierce fiiricanos, or hurricanes, disabled the 
squadron and compelled them to seek shelter in 
San Juan de Ulua, or Vera Cruz, the port of the 
City of Mexico. 

In the harbor the adventurers found a Spanish 
merchant fleet of twelve vessels. These ships 
were unarmed, and laden with the year's produce 
of the West Indies, amounting to more than ten 
million dollars in gold and silver. The Span- 
iards lay in the harbor, hourly expecting an 
armed escort of their countrymen to convoy them 
on the home-bound voyage. 

Indeed, the very next morning following the 
arrival of Hawkins and Drake, the armed escort 
appeared upon the scene, coming grandly for- 
ward just outside the harbor. 

It was an extremely difficult position in which 



12 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

the English traders now found themselves, as 
may be presumed. Hawkins was obliged to 
choose between two doubtful courses. Either 
he must appeal to Spanish honor (a very un- 
stable virtue) to let him proceed on his way un- 
molested, or he must do his best to keep the 
enemy's ships from entering the harbor by sheer 
force of his own feebler armament until the first 
tornado should cripple the Spaniards sufficiently 
to permit of him boarding them, seizing their 
treasure, and making off for "Merrie England." 

In his quandary, Hawkins sought the opinion 
of Francis Drake. The bold Drake at once ad- 
vised an attack; but Hawkins demurred. This 
meant the loss to Spain of more than twenty-two 
millions of dollars; it would undoubtedly pre- 
cipitate the long-threatened rupture between that 
country and England, and while the Queen could 
be counted on as gladly receiving almost any or- 
dinary treasure, he was much afraid of her dis- 
pleasure at so stupendous a venture as Drake 
advocated. 

Finally Hawkins chose upon a peaceful retire- 
ment if possible. He appealed to the Spanish 
fleet commander for a condition of friendliness. 
This was graciously promised. But it was all 
deceit; in spite of their sacred oaths and solemn 
pledges, no sooner were the wily Spaniards per- 
mitted to enter the harbor before they fell upon 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 13 

the British ships with their superior numbers. 
In the sharp but brief engagement that fol- 
lowed the British seamen fought with desperate- 
ness and wonderful valor; but being wholly un- 
prepared for the dastardly attack, they could save 
but few of their vessels. The smaller craft were 
quickly sunk, and the Jesus was so shattered 
that it had to be abandoned with all its precious 
spoils. The Minion, with Hawkins on board, 
and the little Judith, with Drake, alone escaped 
on that fatal night. Riddled with Spanish shot 
and terribly damaged, with crews depleted and 
half-starved, these two ships struggled home- 
ward and eventually crept into Plymouth harbor 
without a remnant of the former immense and 
valuable British cargo. 



PLUNDERING THE SPANISH MAIN 

Just three years later, in 1570, Francis Drake 
succeeded in obtaining a sailing commission from 
Queen Elizabeth, as a reward for his sea ex- 
ploits. During the next two years, he cruised, 
his own commander, in the West Indies, enrich- 
ing himself with much plunder. 

On Whitsunday Eve, in 1572, Drake set sail 
for Plymouth at the head of a tiny squadron and 
a handful of men. Leading was the Pascha, 
Drake's flagship, a vessel of seventy tons. The 



14 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

rear was brought up by the Swan, of twenty-five 
tons burden, captained by his brother, John 
Drake, who had also taken up a sea-faring life. 
These toy men-of-war were fitted out with 
every warlike device of that time. In addition 
to a plentiful supply of guns and ammunition, 
boarding implements and cutlasses, there were 
three small pinnaces, made to be taken apart and 
set up again at short notice. The two crews com- 
prised seventy-three men, of whom only one was 
over thirty years of age. It seemed, truly, like 
a boy's crazy venture. 

Favored by the winds, the squadron sailed 
without a stop until it had its first sight of Gaude- 
loupe, one of the leeward Islands in the West 
Indian group. On reaching Port Pleasant, a 
small landlocked harbor in the Gulf of Darien, 
on the mainland, Drake dropped anchor and 
started to set up his pinnaces. It was a safe 
bay, and convenient for his purpose. 

While he was in the midst of this work, a 
strange squadron hove in sight. To his great 
relief this proved to consist of a vessel belonging 
to Ned Horsey, the well-known pirate of the Isle 
of Wight, and a Spanish caravel and a shallop 
that its commander, Captain Ranse, had cap- 
tured. The two adventurers greeted one an- 
other joyfully, and decided to join forces forth- 
with. 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 15 

Seven days later these united squadrons crept 
out of the harbor. Westward along the coast 
they stole, keeping a sharp lookout for Nombre 
de Dios, the treasure-house of the Spanish Main. 
A week later the comparatively small force lay 
at midnight under the huge bluffs at the point of 
the harbor of this town. Breathlessly the Brit- 
ish lads awaited the breaking of dawn — the time 
appointed for the audacious attack. Twenty- 
four of them were armed with muskets. The 
remainder were possessed of pikes and bows and 
arrows, with the exception of four who had been 
provided with drums and trumpets to inspire the 
crews and terrorize the natives. 

Twelve men were left to hold the pinnaces, so 
as to insure a safe retreat in case of necessity. 
The rest of the company were divided into two 
groups, and advanced upon the Plaza from dif- 
ferent sides. Half a dozen fire-pikes, swabbed 
in blazing tow, lighted the way, casting a lurid 
glow over the narrow streets; the drums and 
trumpets sounded with maddening din, appear- 
ing to be the portion of a large marine band 
rather than of a few energetic men. 

Quickly the Spanish town aroused itself. The 
great bells in the Catholic church and monastery 
began to clang out their brazen alarm. People, 
half-robed, appeared upon the streets and ran 
hither and thither, with cries and shouts that 



16 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

merged from fright into a threatening roar. 
The Spanish soldiers had been called to arms in 
an incredibly short time ; at the end of the Plaza, 
near the Panama gate, they were soon drawn up 
to receive the attack. 

As they came undaunted forward, a heavy 
volley of bullets and arrows greeted Drake and 
his force full in the face. Pausing only long 
enough to return the fire in like manner, they 
rushed on, shoulder to shoulder, and closed in 
upon the consternated Spanish soldiers with pike 
and cutlass. Flashing the sputtering, wierdly- 
flickering fire-pikes in their very faces, yelling 
like a horde of hungry beasts, thrusting to right 
and left with vicious jabs of sharp-pointed steel, 
it is not to be wondered at that the superstitious 
Spaniards went into a panic and presently broke 
and fled before this enemy they scarcely could 
see in the darkness and whose weapons seared 
and lacerated them so terribly. 

In a very brief time the last of the enemy sol- 
diery and citizenry had disappeared through the 
Panama gate, leaving the Plaza in the hands of 
the adventurers. 

Drake at once placed a guard at the entrances 
to the town. With the rest of his men he took 
possession of the governor's house. There, in 
a lower room, a blaze of treasure met their eyes 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 1? 

- — a blaze of such proportions that it made the 
bold commander himself, used to the sight of 
riches, stare for some moments unbelievingly. 

Piled against the wall, and glinting in the 
beams of light that came through the partly-open 
door, were great bars of silver. These reached 
fully seventy feet, from end to end of the long 
room, and rose, like a huge woodpile, till the up- 
per bars all but scraped the ceiling. The poor 
Devon lads, with their commander, looked on 
this unaccustomed sight in half-dazed wonder. 

At this moment some of the Englishmen left 
on guard came running up with the report that 
the pinnaces were in danger of being captured. 
Drake immediately dispatched John Oxenheim 
to reconnoiter the shore, and made a rendezvous 
at the treasure-house of the King which had not 
yet been visited and which stood near the water's 
edge. Here the chief pirate declared they were 
likely to discover far greater wonders in the 
shape of gold and precious stones — enough, prob- 
ably, to overflow their pinnaces should they at- 
tempt to take it all. 

But scarcely had they departed when one of 
those furious tropical storms of the region burst 
suddenly over their heads. The thunder rolled 
and crashed; the rain fell in torrents. Before 
they could get under shelter their bowstrings had 



18 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

been so wetted that they were temporarily use- 
less, and their powder ruined. 

This so changed the aspect of matters, that the 
men, losing their nerve, declined to risk a counter- 
attack by the Spanish in the proposed visit to 
the King's treasure-house. Drake pleaded, then 
taunted. 

"I have brought you to the treasure-house of 
the richest country in the world," he cried; 
"blame no one but yourselves if you go away 
empty !" 

They stood before the treasure-house as Drake 
spoke. But still his followers hesitated. Quite 
losing control of himself, Drake ordered them 
to break into the structure or suffer the displeas- 
ure of the Queen upon their return. He took a 
step forward himself at this juncture. But, as 
he did so, he stumbled and fell on his face, blood 
gushing from a wound in his leg. He had been 
shot early in the encounter, and had concealed 
the fact from his men that they might not lose 
heart. 

Quickly they lifted him from the ground, and 
against all- his entreaties carried him to his boat. 
In order to preserve their beloved captain's life, 
they set sail, abandoning the rich spoils they had 
come so far to seek. 

But the gold and silver bars left back there in 
Nombre de Dios were not forgotten, nor given 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 19 

up for good. Back in a hidden bay in the Gulf 
of Darien, his favorite secret retreat, Francis 
Drake soon recovered from his wound, and made 
plans for stranger and more daring projects than 
he had yet brewed. With the aid of the Ma- 
roons, a savage tribe of escaped negro slaves, he 
planned to intercept the gold of Panama as it 
was carried in mule packs across the Isthmus to 
be shipped to Spain. But months must elapse 
before the coming of the dry season when the 
Spaniards were accustomed to make this annual 
journey overland, and meanwhile his pinnaces 
stole from the harbor and plundered passing 
ships and raided the neighboring coast. 

Under these circumstances it was not long be- 
fore the name of Le Draque became a dreaded one 
to the ear of the average Spanish seaman. Cas- 
tilian captains feared to operate their ships over 
the Main when it was rumored the famous Eng- 
lish navigator was in their waters. Castilian 
crews trembled, half the fight out of them, when 
this terrible crusader of the seas suddenly hove 
in view with his ships. Coast towns, especially 
Nombre de Dios, put additional guards over their 
treasure-houses, to all of which strenuous effort 
at protection Francis Drake only smiled grimly, 
and continued his successful operations. 

On the morning of the 1st of April, a mule 
train, laden with gold and silver, was traveling 



20 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

cautiously along the road to Santa Cruz. A 
mile from the town, within earshot of the car- 
penters working at the docks, the brush held a 
menace, but the Spaniards came on blissfully un- 
conscious of the fact, the mule bells tinkling 
regularly and peacefully as they had been right 
along. 

Suddenly the plodding sound of the many 
hoofs of the animals was broken by a frightful 
din. Figures had unexpectedly risen beside the 
path in two different places, seizing the fore- 
most and hindmost mules, which immediately 
had set up a terrific braying, spreading terror to 
those between and occupying the attention of 
most of the guards to keep them in restraint. In 
the midst of all this a third body of strange men 
rose up and discharged a heavy fusillade of bul- 
lets and arrows into the ranks of the Spaniards. 
There was a feeble reply in defense, whereupon 
the escort fled in a panic, leaving the mules and 
their precious burdens in the hands of the at- 
tackers. 

Needless to say, these were the lads from 
Devon. Swiftly the bars of silver, too heavy 
to carry away then, were hidden in the burrows 
of land-crabs or buried in pits especially scooped, 
out for them. The gold itself was stowed away 
in shirts and pockets, and with forced marches 
the young Englishmen returned to Rio Fran- 
cisco. 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 21 

But, to their dismay, their pinnaces were no- 
where to be seen! Instead, seven Spanish ships 
rode menacingly in the harbor. All hope of 
safety for the moment was gone. However, 
Drake's ingenuity found a way out of the awk- 
ward dilemma. 

A raft was built from drifted tree trunks and 
limbs. With a biscuit-sack for a sail, and a long 
sapling for a rudder, Drake and three of his men 
started on a wild sail over an angry sea. A 
strong wind lashed the waves high, many of 
which, as they sat for six hours in water up to 
their waists, broke completely over their heads. 
By mid-afternoon the wind died down, and with it 
the tumultuous waters. Then the hot sun came 
out and beat hotly down upon their unprotected 
bodies until their wet clothes fairly steamed and 
their strength was well-nigh exhausted. 

Fortunately, as night settled down they man- 
aged to work their way into a quiet little cove, 
where, as hoped, the pinnaces were found to have 
sought shelter with their guard-crews. That 
same night, tired as he was, Drake showed his 
indomitable will-power and endurance by rowing 
back to Rio Francisco. The remainder of the 
crew were told of the happy finding of the pin- 
naces, whereupon it was decided to return at once 
to Santa Cruz and succor the hidden silver bars. 
This was accomplished without further misad- 



Z2 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

venture, and the little company then rejoined 
those aboard the pinnaces. 

A fortnight later the lads from Devon started 
on their homeward journey. They were laden 
with an unusually rich booty, for, besides the 
treasure of the mule-train, they had been lucky 
enough to overhaul almost two hundred vessels 
in the Caribbean Sea. 

The voyage back to England was accomplished 
in due course, after a number of additional cap- 
tures of Spanish ships which added in no mean 
way to their already enormous amount of treas- 
ure. It was on the Sabbath Day, August 9th, 
1573, that they cast anchor at last in Plymouth 
harbor. News of Drake's arrival and wonder- 
ful exploits spread like wildfire. So anxious 
were the townspeople, then in attendance at di- 
vine worship, to see his ships and pay homage to 
their successful countryman, that many of them 
forsook their devotions to hurry down to the 
quay. 

THE RICHES OF THE NEW OCEAN 

On a certain day in November, 1577,^6 find 
Drake standing on the deck of his ship, his face 
turned toward the fabled Pacific. Men of the 
time tell us that he was dressed in a "loose, 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 23 

dark seaman's shirt, belted at the waist, with a 
scarlet cap adorning his flowing black locks." 
If this be true, as undoubtedly it is, he must have 
looked the typical bold rover of the seas that he 
was indeed. 

Drake's ships were mere cockle-shells com- 
pared to vessels of modern times, being no larger 
than the average coaster. They consisted of the 
Pelican, one hundred tons ; the Elisabeth, eighty 
tons; the Swan, fifty tons; and the Christopher, 
a pinnace of fifteen tons. The first two ships 
carried sixteen guns, while the Swan was a pro- 
vision-boat. One hundred and fifteen men and 
fourteen boys manned the craft which were well 
ammunitioned with bullets, wildfire, chainshot, 
muskets, pistols, pikes, cutlasses, and bows and 
arrows. 

Into a chartless and unknown ocean, to brave 
a shadowy world of water which popular super- 
stition had peopled with every conceivable terror 
of the elements and every dreadful form of ani- 
mal, serpent, and fish life, Drake was about to 
sail with this little squadron. To his crew his 
final destination was kept a secret. Led to be- 
lieve that they were bound for Alexandria, not 
until they reached the coast of Morocco was the 
real object of the venture made known. 

Beset almost at the start with bad weather — 
through stress of gales, fogs, calms and tern- 



24 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

pestuous seas — embroiled in an incipient mutiny, 
treason, and the tragedy of an ocean lynch-court, 
which was followed by an execution off the lonely 
coast of Patagonia, the sorely-assailed fleet nev- 
ertheless kept courageously on its perilous 
course. A spirit less unflinching than Drake's 
would have quailed under the torment of Nature 
and inconstance of man. Only three of the five 
ships were brought finally to the gateway of the 
great South Sea. Meantime the Pelican had 
been rechristened the Golden Hind, and on the 
6th of September she was the first of her sister 
craft to pass through the Straits of Magellan, 
amid cold and sickness, and enter the famed 
South Sea. 

Really the dangers of the voyage had now just 
begun. No sooner had the expedition entered 
the confines of the mighty Pacific than all the 
furies of a violent tempest burst over them. For 
six weeks they were tossed to and fro like chips. 
Battered of hulk by the gigantic waves, torn of 
rigging and sail by the terrific winds, they were 
swept fully six hundred miles out of their course. 
During the third week the Marigold went down 
with all on board. A week later the Elisabeth 
became separated from the Golden Hind, and 
losing heart its commander, Captain Wynter, re- 
turned through the Straits the way they had 



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SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 25 

come, and sailed back with his sadly crippled ves- 
sel to England, there to report that in all prob- 
ability his ship was the only survivor of the 
squadron, and to recount the awesome fury of 
the strange new waters which were "invested 
with all the wrath of Satan." 

Meantime Drake was left alone, but unsub- 
dued. And the storm, as if exhausted in its bat- 
tle with this man of iron will, or desirous of re- 
warding him for his heroic struggle, abated. 
Once more the angry skies cleared away, the sun 
smiled brightly, and fair winds played among the 
rent sails, while the lashing waters melted into 
the long, regular, smooth-rolling swells which 
were more suited to the name later bestowed 
upon this fabled body of liquid. 

Soon Drake found himself in the midst of the 
islands of Tierra del Fuego, and then, on a late 
day in October, he knew that he was really one 
of the great discoverers of the world. He stood 
triumphantly on the southernmost point of land 
of the western hemisphere. At his feet, where 
the dream of ages had woven a mystic shroud of 
romantic separation between them, the immense 
waters of the known Atlantic and the unknown 
Pacific rolled together in one mighty confluence 
of twin-love. 

As he went Spanish ships were encountered, 



26 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

and prize after prize fell into his hands. In 
Valparaiso harbor the Golden Hind met a gal- 
leon heavily laden with Spanish plate to the 
amount of thirty-seven thousand ducats. Never 
before had a strange sail been seen in those 
waters, and the crew of this vessel — the Grand 
Captain of the South — thought the new arrival 
must be a friend. They brought out bottles of 
Chile wine to drink to the health of the English- 
men, but drank too deeply. Tumbled into the 
hatches of their own ship by their guests, these 
Spaniards did not succeed in extricating them- 
selves until all their treasure had been carried 
away. 

This was typical of many such adventures in 
the days that followed. To Drake and his men 
the new ocean was anything but Pacific ! 

Then one fine day Drake pointed the bow of 
the Golden Hind straight across the Pacific. 
Past the Carolines, the Philippines, and the 
Moluccas, he made his way. Creeping among 
the maze of dangerous shoals and coral reefs in 
the Sea of Celebes, the vessel ran unexpectedly 
upon a sunken rock. 

For twenty hours she lay at the mercy of the 
waves, caught fast, resisting all effort of her 
crew to release her. Finally, as a last resort, 
eight guns and three tons of cloves were thrown 
overboard in an effort to lighten her sufficiently 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 27 

to float off. Fortunately, the wind freshened 
just then, and with her sails set to catch every 
ounce of pressure, she slid from the reef into 
deep water. The men uttered a heartfelt prayer 
of thanksgiving. 

This was the last and greatest danger. Soon 
the Golden Hind cleared the Archipelago, 
rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and just two 
years and ten months from the day she sailed out 
of Plymouth harbor she again swept into it. 
The long-lost had returned. 

In the meanwhile England had given up 
ever seeing Drake and his crew again. If he 
had not actually fallen a victim to the fury of the 
big new waters, it had by this time become a fore- 
gone conclusion that he had either perished at 
the hands of some mysterious wild tribe along 
the coastline or in the islands, or been taken and 
executed by the Spaniards. Therefore, his re- 
turn, laden down with spoils of vast richness, 
created a thunderbolt of surprise among his 
countrymen. 

Indeed, Drake had arrived to find that the 
Queen had publicly disowned him — doubtless for 
political effect more than anything else. Even 
at the time the Spanish ambassador was calling 
loudly for redress for the recent depredations 
that he had committed. 

Getting wind of this unpromising condition of 



28 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

affairs, Drake considered it prudent to drop an- 
chor behind St. Nicholas Island, where his father 
had fled with him from religious persecution 
thirty years before. Thence he dispatched a 
messenger to the Queen, with notification of his 
arrival, and was presently asked to appear be- 
fore her august person. When he obeyed the 
summons it was not without full hands. Drake 
knew Elizabeth's fondness for money and jewels, 
and the richest of his spoils went with him as a 
gift to her and her courtiers. 

The Queen, true to Drake's expectations, 
greeted him warmly. Pleased by the great value 
of these presents, and filled with admiration for 
her subject's daring exploits, Her Majesty loaded 
him with honors. Already the hero of the hour 
with the countryside, his name was now, with 
the Queen's own commendations, on every one's 
tongue. Throughout the breadth of England he 
was praised. From the Lizard to the Downs his 
deeds were recounted before humble and preten- 
tious firesides alike. 

The booty was carried to the Tower of Lon- 
don, but before registration, four hundred thou- 
sand dollars were extracted from the pile as 
Drake's own share of the spoils. Later Eliza- 
beth allowed him an additional fifty thousand re- 
ward. The Golden Hind was brought up the 
Thames and there preserved as a memorial. On 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 29 

her deck a public banquet was given, and the 
Queen, who graced the occasion, conferred upon 
Drake the honor of knighthood. 

But the great seaman had not come home to 
be petted and pampered at court. His was a 
character made up of sterner and bigger things 
than that. Even now his active and far-reach- 
ing mind was burdening itself with thinking out 
other points for his attack. 

However, five years were to pass before Drake 
could obtain his letters of marque. In the midst 
of treachery, vacillations and other delays, his 
spirit fretted to be loosed once more upon the 
waters. Meanwhile he was forced to work at 
home in organization of the navy, in voting sup- 
plies as a member of Parliament, and in improv- 
ing the town and harbor of Plymouth, of which 
town he had been appointed mayor. 

It was King Philip of Spain himself who pre- 
cipitated matters finally. The arrogant sovereign 
neighbor seized a number of British corn-ships, 
and Elizabeth's temper was sufficiently inflamed 
for her to order Drake out to retaliate. His 
fleet, quickly collected, was the largest he had 
ever commanded, and the most extensive priv- 
ateering squadron on record up to that time. It 
numbered two men-of-war, eighteen cruisers, and 
many pinnaces and store-ships, manned by two 
thousand soldiers and sailors. 



30 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

On a late day in September, 1585, Drake 
hoisted the English colors over his flagship, the 
Elisabeth Bonaventura, and led his fleet out to 
sea. Again his goal was the West Indies, but 
this time he was destined to strike a far more 
telling blow at enemy interests than upon the 
other occasion gone before. 

In his eagerness to get away, Drake started 
short of provisions. To replenish his stores, he 
stopped at the Bayona Islands and here helped 
himself to sufficient Spanish food to properly vic- 
tual the entire fleet. Arriving at St. Iago, of 
the Cape Verde group, he stormed the town and 
raided the island, then headed for San Domingo, 
which was reached shortly after Christmas. 

San Domingo was a walled and strongly forti- 
fied city, the largest and most important in the 
West Indies. Drake realized that its fall would 
have a powerful moral effect upon the whole of 
Europe, and straightway made up his mind to 
attack it, even though this step would entail a 
serious naval operation for him. 

He planned the assault with great care, sur- 
prised the garrison, and after a few hours' brisk 
fighting the Spaniards fled across the river, leav- 
ing the storming party in possession of the Plaza. 
Observing that his force was too weak to suc- 
cessfully defend the place for any time, the cir- 
cumnavigator demanded a ransom of a quarter- 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 31 

million dollars. After destroying the enemy 
shipping in the harbor, he then stood away upon 
the Spanish Main. 

Cartagena, capital of the Main, and one of the 
wealthiest of the many wealthy Spanish cities, 
was sighted in February. Formidable defenses 
surrounded it on all sides. From the sea it was 
protected by a lagoon to which only two narrow 
entrances, both well guarded, gave access. 
From the land, approach was made difficult by a 
creek, also amply fortified. 

To storm the city seemed sheer madness, even 
for a force the size of Drake's. But Drake, as 
usual, was resourceful enough to uncover a prom- 
ising method of accomplishing his ends. 

A detachment was ordered to wade through 
the surf and to come unexpectedly upon the city 
from a point where the enemy had made no pro- 
vision for defense. At the same time a boat at- 
tack was feigned on the side of the harbor, in 
order to deceive the Spaniards. 

The stratagem was successful. The city was 
taken with a rush; the defenders ran. Disdain- 
ing to loot the place of its rich treasure, Drake 
merely demanded a ransom of one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars, which was gladly paid. 
Having also destroyed the shipping here, the 
commander then turned his eyes toward Pan- 
ama. 



32 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

But on the way thither, sickness broke out 
among his men. Many died, and others were 
stricken down every day. With his diminished 
force he saw that he could scarcely hope for suc- 
cess at so strongly a fortified place. So in the 
latter days of March he set sail for home, quite 
satisfied that the blows he had struck would do 
much to deter Spain in her threatened attack 
upon England. 



THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA 

Philip of Spain, aided and abetted by the 
Catholic policy of the Pope and the court of 
France, had been making vast preparations to 
produce and equip the most powerful fleet that 
the world had yet seen. In all the ports of 
Sicily, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, ves- 
sels of enormous size were being built for him, 
the heaviest of guns were placed upon them, and 
vast quantities of provisions and small arms col- 
lected. 

Of course England was kept in ignorance of 
Philip's animose intentions, rumors having been 
sedulously spread that the great Armada was de- 
signed to proceed to the Indies to realize exten- 
sive projects of distant conquest. But she was 
not wholly deceived; the fact is, some of Eliza- 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 33 

beth's advisors, prominent among whom were 
Sir> Francis Drake, had whispered in her ear 
what to look out for, and it was largely owing 
to her acquiescence in the suspicion that her own 
country might be the object of all this enemy 
energy that she had consented to the last de- 
parture of Drake for the West Indies. Really 
it had been a most opportune blow that the 
famous sea-king had dealt the Spaniards upon 
this occasion. But for the delay it caused in 
Philip's plans, the huge Armada would have been 
cast upon England much sooner than it came, 
and perhaps at a time when it could not have been 
successfully met. 

On the afternoon of July 19th, 1588, a group 
of English captains were collected at the Bowling 
Green on the Hoe at Plymouth. Never before 
or since have men of such fame gathered at that 
favorite mustering-place for British seamen. 
There was Sir Francis Drake, first English cir- 
cumnavigator of the globe, the terror of every 
Spanish coast in the Old World and the New; 
there was Sir John Hawkins, the rough veteran 
of many a daring voyage on the African and 
American seas, and of many a desperate battle; 
there was Sir Martin Frobisher, earliest of ex- 
plorers of the Arctic seas in search of the elusive 
Northwest Passage; there was Lord Howard of 
Effingham, High-Admiral of England, in his 



34 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

patriotic zeal bold even to disobey the Queen 
when obedience meant harm to the welfare of his 
country; and last, but in no wise least, you could 
also observe Sir Walter Raleigh, who had been 
commissioned to raise and equip the land forces 
of Cornwall, and who had come to consult with 
the Lord-Admiral and other high officers. 

Many other brave and skillful mariners, 
though of less renown, were there also. All 
were enjoying a game of bowls on the green with 
true sailor-like merriment during their tempor- 
ary relaxation from duty. Presently Drake 
chanced to look off over the harbor. He noticed 
a small armed vessel running before the wind, 
all sails filled, making in furiously. 

"What is this?" cried Drake, directing the at- 
tention of his nearest companions to the ap- 
proaching vessel. "Truth, and I believe 'tis 
none less I see than Fleming and his privateer 
coming yonder. A penny to know what could 
induce such mad speed from the lazy Scotch- 
man !" 

They were soon to know, without the penny. 
A few minutes later the lanky Fleming stood in 
the midst of the excited group, telling the Eng- 
lish officers that he had that very morning seen 
the great Spanish Armada off the Cornish coast ! 

Meanwhile messengers and signals had been 



*" SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 35 

dispatched fast and far throughout England, to 
warn each town and village that the enemy had 
come at last. In every seaport there was in- 
stant making ready by land and by sea ; in every 
shire and every city there was instant mustering 
of horse and man. But England's best defense 
then, as ever, was her fleet. In spite of the fact 
that Elizabeth had done much to embarrass the 
efficiency of this by her penuriousness in dispens- 
ing ammunition, doling out powder and ball day 
by day, at the last moment of need, Drake had 
exercised his men well at target-practice, though 
even this she had regarded an extravagant waste. 

It was a solemn sight when the two fleets had 
their first meeting. The English ships, some of 
which had been loaned by the Dutch, totaled one 
hundred and fifty-two, manned by seventeen 
thousand men. The great majority of these 
were merchantmen, only thirty-six belonging to 
the Royal Navy. Practically all were light, 
swift, and easily managed. 

The Spanish Armada itself was a gorgeous 
display, more fitted for a pageant than a war. 
The great fleet consisted of one hundred and fifty 
ships, mostly much larger than those of their 
adversary. Of these there were galleons, gal- 
liasses, galleys, caravels, petaches and zabraes, 
on which Spain admits, in a document of the 



36 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

time: "The number of mariners were about 
eight thousands; of slaves, twenty hundred and 
eighty-eight; of soldiers, twenty thousands (be- 
sides noblemen and gentlemen voluntaries) 
. . ." It adds that "the aforesaid ships were of 
an huge and incredible capacitie and receipt : for 
the whole fleet was large enough to contain the 
burthen of sixty thousands tunnes." 

Interesting, too, is the following description in 
the quaint English of the period: 

"The galeons were sixty-four in number, be- 
ing of an huge bignesse, and very flatly built, be- 
ing of marvelous force also, and so high that 
they resembled great castles, most fit to defend 
themselves and to withstand an assault, but in 
giving encounter farr inferiour are they unto the 
English and Dutch ships, which can with great 
dexterite weild and turne themselves at all as- 
sayes. The upperworke of the said galeons was 
of thicknesse and strength sufficient to bear off 
musket-shot. The lower worke and the timbers 
thereof were out of measure strong, being framed 
of plankes and rigs foure or five foote in thick- 
nesse, insomuch that no bullets might go through 
them, but afterward were found to sticke fast 
within the massie substance of those thicke 
plankes. Great and well-pitched cables were 
twined about the masts of their shippes, to 
strengthen them against the battery of shot." 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 37 

This great Armada was drawn up before the 
British in the form of a gigantic crescent whose 
horns, or tips, were fully seven miles apart. 
There was a southwest wind, and before it the 
huge vessels comprising the enemy fleet came 
sailing grandly on. 

Very neatly and skillfully the English craft, 
keeping out of sight and range, side-stepped and 
slipped around to the rear of the approaching 
enemy. Coming up swiftly from behind, they 
opened the attack. 

Caught at a disadvantage at the outset, her 
soldiers far better lighters on land than on sea, 
Spain's huge fleet was dealt a stunning and stag- 
gering blow by the agile enemy whose guns were 
all manned by veteran seamen used to hitting 
their targets whether inanimate or animate. 
After standing to for a brief period in an effort 
to stem the furious tide of shot which tore 
through their rigging, swept their decks and 
rained against their hulls, the Spaniards sailed 
away. 

A running fight now took place in which some 
of the best ships of the Spaniards were captured, 
and many more were severely damaged. For 
days the battle continued, always with the enemy 
on the go. The swift craft of the English sailed 
in and out and round and round among the un- 
wieldy galliasses, cannonading them, and then 



38 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

escaping nimbly out of range, suffering little 
themselves. Time after time they repeated 
these performances, teasing and harassing the 
clumsy Spanish boats and pelting their enormous 
turrets, which looked like castellated fortresses. 
Undoubtedly had their crews been more equal, 
and the adversary not outnumbered in this re- 
spect more than two to one, the British lads would 
have closed with the Armada and fought matters 
out hand-to-hand. As it was, Lord Howard and 
Sir Francis Drake were wise to bide their time, 
and to first insure success by gradually weaken- 
ing the adversary at long range. 

Slowly holding their course along the coast the 
two fleets, still fighting fitfully and bitterly, con- 
tinued hostilities. Each day added not only to 
the spirit, but to the number of the British force. 
Raleigh, Oxford, Cumberland and Sheffield 
joined them. 

The Spanish admiral also showed great judge- 
ment, and no mean skill, in his maneuvers with 
the awkward vessels under his command. Had 
he been any less of the clever navigator, he 
never could have brought himself and fleet 
through as well as he did. And on the 27th of 
July he brought his Armada, sorely distressed 
but comparatively unbroken, to anchor in Calais 
Roads. Here, according to pre-arrangement, he 
expected to be joined by his countryman, the 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 39 

Prince of Parma, who was to come by water from 
Dunkirk with a flotilla and a large army with the 
purpose of invading England. But Parma had 
been nicely held in the meantime by the Dutch 
and English blockaders, and so was still far away 
when the Spanish Armada entered Calais Roads. 

The great Armada lay in the offing, with its 
largest craft ranged outside, "like strong castles, 
fearing no assault; the lesser placed in the mid- 
dleward." Lord Howard could not attack them 
in this position without great disadvantage. 
However, on the second night, past midnight, as 
the clouds covered the moon and no eye could 
pierce the darkness, eight vessels crept noise- 
lessly within the Spanish lines. 

A moment later the sea was suddenly il- 
lumined, and eight seeming volcanoes, spitting 
sparks and shooting long tongues of flame, bore 
down upon the terrified enemy. These were the 
dreaded fire-ships — such as the Greeks had so 
often used against the Turkish fleets in their war 
of independence — and had been unloosed by the 
forces of Howard and Drake. 

As those eight masses of flame came nearer, a 
dreadful panic seized the Spaniards. The ter- 
ror spread from ship to ship with seeming simul- 
taneous quickness. Amid yells of fright and the 
greatest of confusion, the Spanish crews cut their 
cables to avoid the oncoming conflagrations and 



40 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

took to the wildest flight. One of the larger of 
the galliasses ran afoul of another, and both were 
so hopelessly tangled in a moment that they fell 
easy victims to their adversaries. 

When daylight broke it was seen that the rest 
of the Armada was scattered along the Flemish 
coast. With great difficulty they obeyed their 
admiral's order to range themselves round him 
near Gravelines. 

Now was the golden opportunity for the Eng- 
lish to assail the crippled Spaniards once more. 
Drake and Fenner were the first British com- 
manders to reach the unwieldy leviathans and 
open the assault. Then came Fenton, South- 
well, Burton, Cross, Raynor, followed by the 
Lord-Admiral himself and Lord Sheffield. 
Huddling as close together as possible for mutual 
protection, the Spanish ships, firing desperately, 
broke and ran for it. After them, almost every 
shot telling on craft or crew, came their relent- 
less will-o'-the-wisp opponents. 

The towering ships of the compact Armada 
made capital targets for the British gunners — 
targets hard to miss within fair range. Rid- 
dled, shattered, disabled, their own shots going 
wild or falling short, the best of the Spanish 
vessels soon gave up using their cannon, and 
drifted helplessly with the current toward the 
coast of Holland, — past Dunkirk, — and far away 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 41 

from the Prince of Parma who, in watching their 
defeat from the coast, must have, as Drake after- 
ward expressed it, "chafed like a bear robbed of 
her whelps." 

And the remnant of Spain's colossal Armada 
— the sad, bedraggled little remnant left — made 
their way painfully through storm and hunger 
and sickness, to the shores of their mother coun- 
try, still chased by the hound-ships of the Brit- 
ish. As the latter pursued, pitiful wreck after 
pitiful wreck of what was but a short time pre- 
vious a floating armed palace filled with gayly- 
dressed and elaborately-fed Spanish noblemen 
and soldiery, drifted upon the tossing waves. 
Of this great collection of proud craft only a 
pathetic handful ever returned to King Philip. 

Much of the glory, if not indeed the greater 
share, of the defeat of the Spanish Armada was 
due to Drake. Although occupying the second- 
ary command of Vice-Admiral in the Queen's 
fleet, Drake had been to the forefront through- 
out the fighting and had been entrusted with ex- 
ecutive powers which aided materially in the suc- 
cessful outcome of the battle. While his own 
vessel had been struck as many as forty times, 
no ship of consequence under his command had 
been seriously damaged; likewise only minor 
casualties had been suffered among the crews, 
and no officers were injured. 



42 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

The last act in the tragedy of Drake's life was 
laid among the scenes of his youth and early 
triumphs. Drawn irresistibly toward those is- 
lands in the Caribbean Sea that had witnessed 
his first exploits, he led his squadron one day to 
La Hacha, to Nombre de Dios, and then, in a 
sudden wave of the adventurous spirit of his boy- 
hood, he headed for Truxillo, the port of Hon- 
duras, and for the rich towns of Nicaragua. 

But ill winds snared him; he was held in the 
fatal Mosquito Gulf, where pestilence lurked in 
every breath of the foul air. Stricken with 
fever, his crew sailed with him back toward 
Puerto Bello. There, on the 28th of January, 
1596, the great sea-king expired, and his remains 
were confined very fittingly to the sepulcher of 
the deep he had loved so much in life. 



II 



MARSHAL ANNE-HILARION DE 
TOURVILLE 

For by the dewy moonlight still, 

He fed the weary-turning mill, 

Or bent him in the chill morass 

To pluck the long and tangled grass, 

And hear above his scar-worn back 

The heavy slave-whip's frequent crack ! 

— Whittier. 



Marshal Anne-Hilarion de Tourville 

A KNIGHT OF MALTA 

There has been a time in the history of the 
chief maritime nations of Europe when it has 
fallen to the lot of each to seize and to hold the 
supreme sovereignty of the waters. Sometimes 
this mastery was for but a very brief duration; 
sometimes it was jealously maintained for years. 
But always was it kept at the cost of the greatest 
and most heroic effort, and lost because another 
power exceeded this endeavor. 

One of these brilliant but short flashes of 
triumph came to France during the reign of 
Louis XIV, at the very outset of her career as a 
recognized naval power. Of the four illustrious 
seamen who were largely responsible for France's 
strength on the deep blue waters, none con- 
tributed quite so strongly as Admiral Anne- 
Hilarion de Tourville. 

This valiant seaman was born at the castle of 
Tourville in Normandy in the year 1642, coming 
from a long line of noble and distinguished an- 
cestry. His father, the Baron de Tourville, died 
when he was five years old. Slender and pale, 

45 



46 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

almost delicate, it was little thought that this frail 
boy was destined to spend forty-five years of his 
life in an active and tireless service on the sea, 
and that he was to be counted the foremost com- 
mander of his time. 

Tourville's noble birth automatically entitled 
him to become a member of the famous Order of 
the Knights of Malta. As a preface to this dis- 
tinction, at fourteen he became a page to the 
grand-master of the Order. He served as page 
three years, was then placed on probation a 
twelve-month for the higher honor of Knight, 
and when eighteen years old stepped into the 
much-coveted position. 

This was a proud day for the youth — a day 
that opened his long career as a seaman. The 
ensuing seven years of his life were spent on the 
Mediterranean, far from home, fighting the 
Moorish buccaneers who swarmed over the nar- 
row seas, and protecting the commerce of France 
from their ravages. These wild corsairs, the 
highwaymen of the Mediterranean, whose haunts 
lay along the creeks and inlets of the North Afri- 
can coast, for more than a hundred and fifty 
years had been stabbing the commerce of all 
Christian Europe. They had spread terror along 
the southern shores of that continent; they had 
even ravaged the seaport towns of Spain, Italy, 
and Sicily ; they had interrupted trading, held up 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 47 

rich convoys bound to distant marts, and chained 
thousands of unlucky Christian slaves to the gal- 
ley benches of their robber craft. Many of the 
greatest seamen of recent ages, admirals of Italy, 
Spain, France, and Holland, had spent the best 
years of their lives in hunting down and trying 
to annihilate these leeches of trade. But their 
natural rivals and untiring enemies, those whose 
special mission it had become to dispute and 
weaken their power, were the Knights of Malta, 
themselves the Christian pirates of the Mediter- 
ranean, whose booty was these corsairs from the 
Barbary steppes. 

The brilliant crusades against the Moorish 
crescent were carried on in a fleet of galleys most 
splendidly equipped. Every Knight was obliged 
to serve in four cruises of six months each, and 
few it was of them who were not sorry when 
their period of stirring adventure came to an of- 
ficial end. Young Tourville particularly started 
out upon his voyages with gusto. In his very 
first encounter with the Barbary pirates he ex- 
posed himself heedlessly to the sweeping fire of 
the enemy, and fought with such abandon of 
bravery that he won the admiration of friend and 
foe alike. In this encounter he was finally 
wounded in three places, but insisted on staying 
on deck and using his gun. 

Following came a long succession of heroic 
deeds. These brought him a reputation for 



48 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

ability and intrepid courage that spread from 
Venice to the royal court of France. The 
Venetian republic was so grateful for his services 
in relieving her from the depredations of the Al- 
gerian sea-rovers that she bestowed upon him the 
titles of "Protector of Maritime Commerce" and 
"Invincible Seaman." As a sequel Louis XIV, 
his own ruler, sent for him and personally com- 
plimented him upon his fine exploits. Shortly 
afterward he received his commission as captain 
in the Royal Navy, and was given the command 
of a ship. 

Meanwhile the relations of France to other 
continental nations became strained. Finally, in 
1672, she and Great Britain united with the pur- 
pose of crushing the power of the Netherlands, 
as stated in a preceding section of this volume. 
In this step France was largely actuated by her 
feeling of security in the navy which she had 
recently built up — a navy such as she had never 
owned before, a navy that was the greatest pride 
of the King's heart, and one which he was very 
desirous of trying out, like a boy with a new 
kite. Envy of the enormous commercial wealth 
of the Netherlands, with Louis XIV at least, was 
a secondary consideration. 

Great Britain, weary of hostilities, had with- 
drawn from the contest and had signed a treaty 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 49 

of peace with the Dutch. France was left to con- 
tinue the war alone with her doughty antagonist. 
Determined to destroy the commerce of the 
Netherlands, she sent her men-of-war to the Med- 
iterranean. 

In the battles that followed in southern waters 
Tourville took an active part under the leadership 
of Admiral Duquesne. With him were many 
other gallant young Frenchmen, the pick of all 
France, but of them all none stood out so bril- 
liantly in action as the dashing, slender figure of 
Tourville himself, then thirty-four years old. 

Allied with Holland, Spain was threatened 
with the loss of one of her most important pos- 
sessions in the Mediterranean. This was Mes- 
sina, a seaport in Sicily, queen island of the South 
Sea. The people had risen in revolt against the 
Catholic King, had captured the forts and gained 
almost entire possession of the city. Too weak, 
however, to maintain the rebellion without 
foreign aid, the Messinese asked for the protec- 
tion of the King of France. 

At this stage of affairs Admiral Vivonne was 
lying at anchor with his fleet off the coast of Cata- 
lonia. With him were such renowned seamen 
of France as Valbelle, Preuilly, and Tourville. 
He dispatched Valbelle, on September 27th, 1674, 
with a small squadron to help the insurgents. 



50 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

This failing to meet the demands of the occasion, 
in January a second expedition was sent with 
Tourville as captain. 

Several forts had been retaken by the Span- 
iards in the meantime, among which were the 
Pharo and Reggio. Outside the gates of Mes- 
sina was encamped a Spanish army. This force, 
aided by a fleet of forty-one sail which guarded 
the entrance to the Straits, pressed the city vigor- 
ously. Thus Messina lay, surrounded by land 
and sea, practically at the mercy of the Spaniards 
when, on the 2nd of January, Valbelle appeared 
with his small squadron consisting of six war- 
ships, one frigate, three fire-ships, and a convoy 
of supply vessels. 

Favored by fresh winds and an incoming tide, 
the French flotilla dashed through the channel, 
swept past the barricade of Spanish galleys, 
weathered the fire of the forts, and forced an en- 
trance into the Straits with bewildering audacity. 
Amazed to inaction the heavy men-of-war offered 
little resistance. Messina was relieved by a bril- 
liant stroke. 

But the new supply of provisions could not last 
forever. At the end of five weeks the stores were 
exhausted. Starvation faced the rescued. The 
sorely besieged prayed that succor might reach 
them before it was too late. That prayer was 
answered. 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 51 

In February Tourville's ships sailed into view, 
and soon followed more French ships in the shape 
of the squadrons of Duquesne and Vivonne and 
Valbelle. This great force was more than the 
Spaniards could withstand. In a short time they 
were put to flight, leaving half their number be- 
hind. Needless to say the victors were received 
with the wildest joy and greatest gratitude when 
they entered Messina and brought huge stores of 
food to the besieged rebels. 

During the remainder of the year of 1675 the 
French strengthened themselves in Sicily, and 
extended their conquests along the southern 
coast. 

On the 17th of August twenty-nine ships un- 
der Vivonne anchored in the bay before Agosta 
and opened fire on the forts protecting the harbor. 
While this was going on Tourville was leading 
six ships to the mouth of the harbor. Despite 
the galling fire to which he was soon subjected 
he forced an entrance and turned his broadsides 
upon Fort Avalo, the strongest and most import- 
ant of the enemy defenses. 

As the fort still held out after a brisk can- 
nonading, Tourville sent Coetlogon with a small 
landing party to make an attack at closer quar- 
ters. Under a storm of shot and stones the first 
barricade was then taken, but Coetlogon's little 
force was threatened with capture by his numer- 



52 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

ous foe. Alarmed for the safety of his friend, 
Tourville threw himself into a small boat with 
a few volunteers and flew to the succor. 

The Spaniards made a feint by running up a 
white flag. When the rescuers had come within 
range they let loose a wild storm of artillery in 
their direction. But Tourville was not to be non- 
plussed. After an hour's obstinate attack, the 
second barricade was carried, the fort surrend- 
ered, and the first landing party was saved. The 
town quickly thereafter capitulated. 

In reporting this success Tourville, as cus- 
tomary, gave the lion's share of the credit to his 
officers and men. But his government, while up 
to this time slow to promote him, was not blind 
to the truth, and a year later the modest and in- 
trepid captain was rewarded with a commission 
as commodore. 



PUNISHING THE BARBARY PIRATES 

Imagine yourself gazing down upon the vol- 
canic Islands of Lipari — the very outposts of 
Sicily — the rock-sentinels that guard the entrance 
to the Gulf of Joy and act as finger-posts for 
many a grizzled mariner as he feels his way along 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 53 

the shores of Italy past her beautiful Queen Is- 
land. 

On Stromboli, which forms the gateway to the 
gulf, stands the great lighthouse of the southern 
sea. Rising more than two thousand feet above 
the blue waters into which it has so often spat 
its molten saliva, Mount Etna in solitary gran- 
deur furnishes by night the ever-burning beacon 
to seamen which is denied to Lipari. At the foot 
of this centuries-old volcano, under the open maw 
of fiercely-boiling flame, turbulent gases, and 
gurgling lava, the greatest seafighters of the age 
have now gathered to measure their skill and 
prowess. 

Sent by William of Orange to the Mediterran- 
ean to make a juncture with the Spanish fleet and 
force the rebel Sicilian town to return to the al- 
legiance of the King of Spain, the famous De 
Ruyter faces the French fleet with eighteen Dutch 
men-of-war. Duquesne's force numbers twenty- 
five war-ships and six fire-ships. He has divided 
his flotilla into three squadrons, one of which is 
commanded by Tourville. 

For twenty-four hours the rival fleets lay 
watching each other warily, maneuvering to gain 
advantage of the wind. As the first gray light 
of dawn begins to appear in the east on the morn- 
ing of the 8th of January, 1676, a stiff breeze 



54 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

springs up to the advantage of the French. 
Without hesitation Duquesne orders sail set, and 
bears down upon his enemy. 

The Dutch receive the onslaught with a firm 
front, retaliating with a heavy fire. From ten in 
the morning till ten at night both sides fight 
with vigor, often coming to close quarters. 
From the deck of his ship, the Sceptre, Tourville 
supports his leader valiantly, never failing to be 
in the hottest part of the combat. On one oc- 
casion he is assailed by a huge three-decker. The 
latter's heavy guns soon create havoc with his rig- 
ging, and his ship, crippled and shot-torn from 
bow to stern, is only saved by a French fire-ship 
that comes to his assistance. 

Just before nightfall a squadron of nine Span- 
ish galleys pounce down upon the French flag- 
ship, and annoy her with their powerful chase- 
guns, but Tourville sends several thirty-six-pound 
cannon ball among them, and they scatter pre- 
cipitately. When darkness comes, the loss to 
the combatants has been about equal, each suffer- 
ing considerably. 

The next day both fleets receive reenf orements. 
But the battle is not renewed; Duquesne sails 
around Sicily and enters Messina harbor from 
the south ; De Ruyter goes first to Naples and af- 
terward to Palmero to revictual and refit. 

The most important action, however, was yet 
to take place. 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 55 

On April 22d, between Catania and Agosta, the 
French fleet of thirty men-of-war encountered 
the combined squadrons of Spain and Holland, 
numbering three less ships. Bearing down 
quietly upon one another, no sign of hostility was 
apparent until they were within musket-shot 
range. Then suddenly both fleets let loose vio- 
lent broadsides. 

The conflict was prolonged and furious. To- 
ward the close of the day De Ruyter's flagship 
succeeded in closing with the Saint Esprit, at 
whose masthead flew the ensign of Duquesne. 
In a moment the two rival flagships were doing 
their utmost to sink the other. All their avail- 
able guns were aimed with the deadliest intent, 
and men stood ready with boarding tools and 
weapons for the time when the crucial moment 
should arrive. 

At this juncture Tourville observed his chief- 
tain's predicament. With the Sceptre and Saint 
Michel he appeared quickly on the scene, a ship 
at either side of the Dutch flagship. Neatly 
trapped, it was by the utmost difficulty and only 
with a fine example of his famous seamanship 
that De Ruyter managed to extricate himself 
without capture. However, he had been sorely 
wounded himself. Not until later did this knowl- 
edge come to the French — not until their brave 
adversary's fleet had retired to Syracuse and De 



56 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Ruyter's body had been consigned to the sea by 
his sorrowing countrymen. 

By ten o'clock that evening the combat ceased. 
Next morning, in rain and mist, the combatants 
separated, the French to keep to the seas until 
May ist, after which they sailed into the harbor 
of Messina. 

The death of De Ruyter was an irreparable 
blow to the Allied fleet. Robbed of the strength 
of its most able commander, it is not to be won- 
dered at that the next sea battle fought by the 
French proved to be one of the most signal naval 
triumphs on record. 

After restocking and repairing their ships, the 
Allies had sailed out of Syracuse harbor, doubled 
the island of Sicily, and entered the port of Pal- 
mero, where they intended to await the move- 
ments of the French fleet. Their idleness was 
short-lived. 

On May 28th the French fleet of twenty-nine 
warships, nearly as many galleys, and almost a 
dozen fire-ships, put to sea from the harbor of 
Messina. It passed through the channel of the 
Pharo, and sailed northward on a lookout for the 
enemy. The Duke of Vivonne, viceroy of Sicily 
and nominal head of the Mediterranean fleet, was 
a member of the expedition, having come along 
in person that he might share what was consid- 
ered to be the last glorious venture of French 







' ' /lrssiru ' oar Gramcourc if 'So 



Avec Privilege da Roi. 

COMTE DE TOURVILLE. 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 57 

arms. His flag was run up on Tourville's ship, 
the Sceptre, which thus became the chief vessel 
of the center. Duquesne, as vice-admiral, took 
command of the vanguard. 

Something like four days after leaving Mes- 
sina, the French fleet sighted Palmero. There, 
before their eyes, the complete fleet of the Allies 
rode at anchor, arranged in battle formation. 
On the right and left wings were the Dutch ships 
under the command of Admiral Haan, who had 
succeeded De Ruyter. In the center the Spanish 
vessels were concentrated under De Ibarra. The 
craft were three or four cable lengths from the 
entrance to the roadstead, some of them being 
sheltered by the mole. In all there were in the 
combined Dutch-Spanish fleet twenty-seven ships 
of war, nineteen galleys, and four fire-ships. 

No sooner had the French sighted the enemy 
than Vivonne called four of his most trusted of- 
ficers for a most difficult and perilous undertak- 
ing. Among them was Tourville, the youngest 
of the commodores. These officers were asked 
to make a complete examination of the adver- 
sary's position, and to draw up a plan of his de- 
fenses. 

The party set out in a small sailboat in broad 
daylight. Supported by the squadron of gal- 
leys, which were ready to protect them with their 
guns at the slightest provocation, the valiant and 



58 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

devoted quartet of young Frenchmen entered the 
harbor and approached to within close range of 
the serried battle front. Sailing up and down 
the enemy's line, Tourville and his companions 
made careful observations, no detail of the ar- 
rangements of defense escaping their vigilant 
eyes. Struck with admiration at their audacious 
bravery the Dutch and Spanish looked on silently. 
Not a gun did they fire. 

Vivonne at once called a council of war to de- 
cide on a plan of attack. Tourville had already 
worked out a plan of procedure in his active mind 
which he now presented to his commander-in- 
chief. So pleased were the officers with this, es- 
pecially Vivonne himself, that, after some dis- 
cussion it was accepted with no little enthusiasm. 

A stiff breeze was blowing from the northwest 
the next morning, the 2d of June. Shortly after 
daybreak, aided by this breeze, the French fleet 
sailed, in battle order, through the entrance to 
the harbor. They were led by nine selected war- 
ships and five fire-ships which were to open ac- 
tion by attacking the head of the enemy's line. 
Every deck was cleared for action, every man 
was at his post. 

But before the French had swung into place, 
the Dutch opened fire. Their heaviest broad- 
sides were poured into the bold intruders. In 
return the French sent even more furious and 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 59 

well-directed charges across the waters at the 
Dutch. This made their ships quiver and waver. 
Along the whole line the French fire was fully as 
terrible. The very impetuosity of their attack, 
coupled with the deadliness of their aim, soon 
filled the Allies with fear and dismay. In less 
than half an hour the Spanish vice-admiral had 
cut his own cables and drifted toward shore in 
a spasmodic effort to save his ship from capture. 

With the line open, the French renewed their 
attack with greater vigor than before. Two 
more flagships were compelled to cut their cables, 
and in the resulting panic other Dutch and Span- 
ish ships followed suit. The French made good 
use of their fire-ships, through their agency burn- 
ing twelve enemy men-of-war, among them a 
Spanish and Dutch flagship. The Capitane and 
Steenberg — Spanish and Dutch vessels, respec- 
tively, — blew up with fearful force, covering the 
surrounding bay and some of their surviving 
craft with burning debris. 

As the flames gathered headway and communi- 
cated to neighboring sister ships, consternation 
seized the Allies. Wild with terror Dutch and 
Spaniards alike fled for refuge behind the mole. 
Here, subjected to new f rightfulness in the form 
of burning balls and shot-spraying grenades, 
which fell in showers on the city of Palmero, they 
fled inland. 



60 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

The victory could scarcely have been more bril- 
liant and complete. By it the French had as- 
serted their mastery of the waters of the Mediter- 
ranean. The very blow that had relegated the 
strong navy of Spain into the dust had raised the 
navy of France to the pinnacle of sea powers. 

The famous treaty of Nimegue, signed on the 
ioth of August, 1678, between Louis XIV on the 
one side and half of Europe on the other, marked 
the beginning of that dazzling period of naval 
supremacy which, during almost fifteen years, 
placed France for the first and only time in her 
history at the head of maritime nations. The 
flag of every country saluted the standard that 
floated proudly from the mastheads of the ships 
of France. 

Not long after this, action on the seas again 
became imperative for the French. The com- 
merce of Europe had been endangered by the 
piratical swoops of the corsairs of Barbary. In 
order to effectually put a stop to these bare-faced 
robberies of her merchantmen France decided it 
was advisable to attack the miscreants in their 
main retreat — Algiers. To this lair it was their 
habit to lead their captured prizes, fortifying 
themselves against interference in its ample, well- 
caparisoned harbor. In Algiers it was truly sus- 
pected that thousands of Christian captives lan- 
guished in foul prisons and in wetched servitude. 



MARSHAL DE TOURVILLE 61 

So in the summer of 1682, and again the fol- 
lowing year, a French fleet under Duquesne and 
Tourville was sent to do what it could to clean 
out this nest of the pirates. For the first time 
new weapons were to be used. Among the heavy 
ships-of-the-line you might have seen small, flat- 
bottomed boats called bomb-galiots, each of which 
carried two mortars and four guns. 

Reaching the harbor of Algiers, the French- 
men lost no time in letting the sea-robbers know 
they meant business. From the warships can- 
non ball were thrown into the beautiful Moorish 
city, and from the mortars on the newly-invented 
galiots death-carrying, destructive bombs were 
rained upon the roofs of the buccaneers' homes 
and storehouses and places of amusement, as well 
as other buildings. 

Palaces and mosques fell in a mass of ruins; 
storehouses were wrecked or burned; houses 
crumbled. The wives and children of the pirates, 
the pirates themselves, their slaves and captives, 
could be seen running through the streets in 
frantic quest of better shelter. Many captives 
took advantage of the terror of their brutal cap- 
tors to run down to the water's edge where, with 
outstretched arms, they mutely plead for rescue. 

Tourville — now a vice-admiral, and first in 
every perilous enterprise — came and went in a 
small boat, subjected to incessant fire from the 



62 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

shore, to direct and watch the work of the mor- 
tars. His heart ached for the supplicating cap- 
tives, but it would have been suicide to have at- 
tempted their rescue just then. 

At length the Algerians sued for peace. But 
Duquesne and Tourville refused to listen until 
every Christian captive had been delivered from 
bondage. Then for five days there was silence 
on the bay and a respite in the city, while boatload 
after boatload of Christians were carried from 
the shore to the ships that were to take them from 
slavery back to their almost-God-forgotten 
homes. Half-starved, hollow-cheeked, ragged, 
eyes dulled till only the fever-flame of life's last 
piteous grip gave them Divine expression at all, 
more than seven hundred white slaves of the Bar- 
bary pirates were thus restored to liberty. It 
was a proud day for Duquesne and Tourville, for 
it had brought them a greater trophy than ever 
mere victory over an enemy at sea. No quantity 
of prize war-ships could ever equal their satisfac- 
tion at this saving of their fellow men from a 
cruel bondage. 



Ill 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 

The Stars shall glitter o'er the brave, 
When death, careering on the gale, 
Flag of the seas, on ocean's wave, 
Sweeps darkly round the bellied sail, 
And frightened waves rush wildly back 
Before the broadside's reeling rack; 
The dying wanderer of the sea 
Shall look at once to Heaven and thee, 
And smile to see thy splendors fly 
In triumph o'er his closing eye. 

— Halleck. 




CO 



* Ml* If 



1&- 





O 



Commodore John Paul Jones 

FROM TOY SHIPS TO BIG SHIPS 

John Paul Jones was a man of no country, 
a "citizen of the world," a fighter on the side of 
humanity, the bitter enemy of the brutal oppres- 
sor. Likewise was he a Scottish trader, an 
American commodore, a French chevalier, a Rus- 
sian admiral, the father of the United States 
Navy, the winner of the greatest sea battle of 
the Revolutionary War. 

Fittingly has it been said of this striking sea- 
man, "He was the Drake of the New World." 
Like Drake, he was a man of strong individuality 
and stunning contrasts, a dashing adventurer, a 
gracious courtier, a brilliant commander, a strict 
disciplinarian, a tender-hearted and loyal friend, 
a ferocious avenger, an invincible fighter. Un- 
like Drake, he held his spirit of plunder and flam- 
ing ambition under a tempering check that made 
him the more admirable. 

Again like Drake, his name has been woven 
with the warp and woof of a romantic tradition 
and fanciful popular legendary which has clouded 
and distorted actual truth and the records of his- 

65 



66 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

tory. And, like Drake, he has been as much 
hated in Great Britain as was L'Draque in Spain. 

John Paul was born on the 6th of July, 1747, 
at Arbigland, on the southern shores of Scot- 
land. His father was a Lowlander, head gar- 
dener and game-keeper to a country squire, while 
his mother was a Highlander and a descendant 
of one of the fierce clans that had their homes 
among the heathered hills. 

The boy had three sisters and three brothers, 
he being the younger. His oldest brother, Wil- 
liam, was early adopted by a distant relative, 
William Jones, who had emigrated to the Ameri- 
can colonies and lived on his plantation in Vir- 
ginia. The adopted lad at once assumed the 
name of Jones. Little John Paul himself had 
never seen this brother, as he had been born three 
years after William departed. 

John Paul's childhood sped quickly; he soon 
grew into a hardy, active, self-reliant lad of 
twelve, at which time his scanty instruction in the 
parish school of Kirkbean ceased. In the mean- 
while he had mastered other lessons that had set 
his adventure-loving young soul into a wild flame 
of restless yearning. These lessons came from 
his frequent trips to Carsethorn Creek, a nearby 
stream where fishermen were wont to seek shelter 
from storm and tide and unload their cargoes of 
tobacco for Dumfries. In these magic waters he 




JOHN PAUL JONES. 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 67 

had sailed his mimic boats ; on the weather-worn 
wharves he had listened with wide-open eyes to 
the stirring tales of the old Scottish tars, and 
often watched with eager interest and keen intel- 
ligence the coming and going smacks of the fish- 
ermen as they steered their way through the nar- 
row lanes of shipping. On these waters he had 
already learned to handle a yawl, and to brave the 
northeast squalls that so often tried the courage 
and skill of many an older seaman. 

Young John Paul now began to beg his father 
to let him go to sea. His passionate longing was 
gratified. The father, before his son had yet 
reached his thirteenth year, sent him across the 
Solway and apprenticed him to James Younger, 
a prosperous merchant in the American trade. 
As master's-apprentice, John Paul was now a 
full-fledged sailor on board the Friendship. 
How proud he was! A month later, after a 
stormy voyage, this vessel dropped anchor in the 
Rappahannock River, not far from the planta- 
tion of William Jones — the relative who had 
adopted his eldest brother. 

The meeting between the two brothers, neither 
of whom had ever seen the other, was a most 
touching one. John Paul fpund William Paul 
Jones a successful married man, and overseer 
upon his adopted father's plantation. While the 
Friendship lay at anchor the young boy spent 



68 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

much time on land with his brother, and it was 
then that he was for the first time attracted to 
the novel and independent life of the American 
colonists — a life that had a peculiarly strong ap- 
peal for his own rugged spirit. William Jones 
took a fancy to the lad, and offered to adopt 
him. But while his lively interest had been 
awakened in the half-civilized new country, John 
Paul's real love was for the sea. He therefore 
declined, and soon sailed away for home. 

For the next six years John Paul sailed on trad- 
ing voyages in the ships of Mr. Younger. In this 
time he advanced rapidly in sea knowledge and 
skill. He had a keen, open mind, and a retentive 
memory, and never thought he "knew it all." 
With these characteristics he was sure to gain 
the utmost information and to thereby pave the 
way for success in his future undertakings. In 
1764 he was serving as second-mate on West In- 
dian traders; a year later he was promoted to 
first-mate. Then Mr. Younger retired from 
business, released him from his indentures, and 
rewarded his faithfulness with a sixth interest 
in a packet engaged in West Indian trade. 

This packet was the King George. With the 
vessel John Paul made two voyages to the west 
coast of Africa after slaves. The best men of 
those days thought nothing wrong in such tran- 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 69 

sactions, not having their minds awakened to the 
full horrors of the practice as have the men of 
to-day. So, if the conscience of John Paul 
pricked him a bit during these financially profita- 
ble trips, he kept the fact pretty much to himself 
and history never knew it. 

At the end of his second voyage after slaves, 
our hero sold his share in the vessel to Captain 
Benbigh. At Kingston, Jamaica, he boarded the 
John O'Gaunt as a passenger, bound for White- 
haven. 

Little did the young sailor know, or the crew, 
that when the trader sailed out of the Antilles 
and into the Atlantic Ocean she carried with her 
the dreadful germs of the yellow fever. Barely 
had she cleared the Windward Islands before the 
ravages of the scourge began to spread among the 
crew. Within a week the captain, his officers, 
and most of the deckhands had succumbed and 
their remains were consigned to the deep. Only 
six human beings were left on the ill-fated ship. 
One was John Paul, the passenger. 

The young man's sea experience and sea study 
were now to stand him in good stead. There be- 
ing none left who were competent to handle the 
ship, John Paul took command. With neatness 
and dispatch he guided the fever-stricken brig 
across the dangerous waters of the Atlantic, and 



70 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

brought her safely into the harbor at Whitehaven. 
So pleased were her owners, Currie, Beck & Com- 
pany, that they gave him a generous monetary 
reward, in addition to which they appointed him 
captain and supercargo of a new ship — the John 
— which was engaged in making trips to the West 
Indies. 

In command of this vessel, John Paul made 
three voyages. During the course of these he 
again visited his brother on the Rappahannock, 
and the bonds of affection for America were 
drawn still closer. 

When William Jones died in 1760 he left his 
entire property of three thousand acres, build- 
ings, slaves, cattle, and a sloop, to his adopted 
son. The will provided that, should the adopted 
son die without children, the property was to go 
to his youngest brother, our John Paul. When 
the latter sailed away for England after his last 
visit to William, he had no thought that he was 
soon to return, the owner of this fine American 
plantation. 

The ensuing two years were passed by John 
Paul in making voyages to the Indian Ocean as 
a convoy to transport ships of the East India 
Company. His last merchant trip was under- 
taken late in 1772 on the vessel Two Friends. 
Sailing by way of Lisbon, the Madeira Islands, 
and Tobago, he dropped anchor in the Rappahan- 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 71 

nock in April of the following year. Expecting 
a hearty welcome from his brother, he was grief- 
stricken to find him lying at the point of death, 
quite unconscious. 

At William's death John Paul became master 
of the large estate in Virginia. He decided to 
assume the name of Jones, to fit more gracefully 
into the title of his new possessions, and sent the 
Tzvo Friends on her homeward voyage under the 
command of her first-mate, with word to her 
owners that he intended to become a Colonial 
planter. 

For upwards of two years he really enjoyed 
the quiet and independence of the new life that 
had opened up to him as from the tip of a fairy's 
wand. During this period he left the active man- 
agement of the estate to his brother's faithful 
overseer, and devoted the greater share of his 
own time to study and society. He mastered 
French and Spanish, naval history and tactics, 
diplomacy and politics. He entertained the 
neighboring families with lavish hospitality. He 
travled extensively. 

Thus the poor Scottish gardener's son, ed- 
ucated largely by his own exertions, became a 
scholarly and educated American of the day. 
Moreover, he was soon, very soon, to make valua- 
ble use of his learning and skill in the cause of 
his new country. 



72 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 



THE DRAKE AND THE RANGER 

In the spring of 1775 — that eventful spring 
when the war of the Revolution embroiled Amer- 
ica and England in its toils — John Paul Jones was 
leisurely making his way in his sloop along the 
coast of New Jersey on a pleasure sail to Boston. 

Upon reaching New York he encountered Wil- 
liam Livingston. The face of the latter looked 
very serious. His friend saw at once that some- 
thing had gone wrong, and Livingston's first 
words proved the correctness of his surmise. 

"John, have you heard the ill news?" asked 
Livingston. 

"I have not been favored," replied Jones. "I 
trust it is nothing serious concerning your own 
family?" 

"I fear it is serious, but it concerns my family 
no more than all familes in the Colonies. John, 
my friend, word has just come that the British 
have beaten us at Lexington!" 

Instantly John Paul Jones was as concerned 
as his friend. He plied him with many questions. 
After a long discussion they parted. Jones im- 
mediately gave up his plans for going to Boston ; 
he turned the bow of his sloop back homeward, 
and three days later, from his plantation, was 




o ^ 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 73 

writing Hewes and other members of the Con- 
tinental Congress an offer of his services. 

In June the new marine committee invited him 
to lay before them any information and advice 
he could on the selection of suitable naval officers 
and ships for the beginning of a navy with which 
to defend the American seaboard from the craft 
of England. 

John Paul Jones's suggestions met with favor. 
As a consequence steps were at once taken for 
carrying them out with speed and dispatch. 

The first squadron of our navy consisted of 
four ships — the frigates Alfred and Columbus, 
and the brigantines Andrea Doria and Cabot. 
The first list of officers embraced five captains, 
five first-lieutenants, and eight junior-lieutenants. 
In this list John Paul Jones stood at the head of 
the first-lieutenants. Favoritism among some of 
the powerful members of the marine committee 
kept him out of the list of captains, a position to 
which his high attainments surely qualified him. 

Of course Jones felt the injustice of it all. But 
in his disinterestedness of self and broad love of 
service for service's sake, he made no allusion to 
the slight except in a letter sent about that time to 
Joseph Hewes. In this he says: "I am here to 
serve the cause of human rights, not to promote 
the fortunes of John Paul Jones. ... I will 
cheerfully enter upon the duties of first-lieutenant 



74 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

of the Alfred under Captain Saltonstall. Time 
will make all things even." And time did "make 
all thing's even," as we shall see. 

Not until the 17th of February was the little 
American squadron ready for sea. On that day 
the light, sleek ships sailed out of Delaware Bay 
and headed for the Bahama Islands. Almost 
two months later the squadron returned to home 
shores after a cruise that was productive of little 
more than a showing of disgraceful incompetence 
on the part of many of the officers. As a result, 
captains appointed through influence and favorit- 
ism were dismissed, while Jones was honorably 
retained and given an independent command. 

The Providence, his new ship, was a small 
sloop of fourteen guns. After using her to 
transport troops and stores between New London 
and New York, and convoying American ships 
along the coast, he went out for six weeks to 
harass British commerce. With a crew of sev- 
enty men he sped through waters swarming with 
British frigates, from the Bermudas to Nova 
Scotia. He destroyed the enemy's fisheries at 
Canso, and made two daring descents on the is- 
land of Madame. In all sixteen prizes fell into 
his daring hands, besides a large number of fish- 
ing-smacks. Eight were manned, the remainder 
destroyed for want of sailors with which to sail 
them home. 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 75 

Near the Bermudas he encountered the British 
ship Solebay of twenty-eight nine-pounders. 
For six hours he was chased by the more power- 
ful enemy, part of the time within range and 
once almost within the Solebay' s clutches. But, 
by a very clever maneuver that surprised and 
caught the Britisher at a disadvantage, the Amer- 
ican frigate succeeded in showing her a clean pair 
of heels. 

Believing that he could be of much more serv- 
ice to the American cause in foreign waters than 
at home, he began to appeal for permission to sail 
to the English and Irish channels. Final rec- 
ognition came from General Washington himself 
who said, "Captain Jones, you have conceived the 
right project, and you are the right man to ex- 
ecute it." 

The result was an appointment to command 
the new sloop-of-war Ranger, which carried 
twenty six-pounders. The Scotch commodore 
was told to hold himself in readiness for a swift 
sail to France to carry dispatches of the highest 
importance. The Ranger stood out to sea on 
November 1st, 1777. The news she carried was 
the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga. 

Spreading every inch of canvas that he could, 
Jones forced his ship through the Atlantic at top- 
most speed. By day the stanch little Ranger 
staggered on in the teeth of heavy northeast 



76 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

winds and blinding snow squalls; by night, beat- 
ing her way through darkness and blanket fog, 
she continued just as bravely but with necessarily 
diminished speed. The second-lieutenant states 
that the Commodore declared he would "spread 
this news in France in thirty days." The way the 
sloop bounded along surely looked as if he would 
keep his promise. 

On the last day of the run the Ranger captured 
two prizes. December 2nd she sailed into the 
Loire and dropped anchor at Nantes. Commo- 
dore Jones hurried to Paris with his packet of 
news, only to find that he had been outstripped. 
Mr. Austin, who had sailed from Boston two 
days earlier with duplicate messages, had arrived 
just twenty-four hours before. But this was not 
the only disappointment to greet Jones in Europe. 
He had been promised a large new frigate, built 
at a neutral Dutch dockyard for the United 
States. On reaching Paris he discovered that 
the vessel, for political reasons, had been sold to 
France. 

So, instead of starting on his long-cherished 
cruise in British waters on the deck of a forty- 
six-gun frigate, he was forced to content himself 
with his little sloop of less than half that arma- 
ment. It was a dark outlook. Nobody but a 
dauntless commander and an equally dauntless 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 77 

crew would ever have thought of bearding the 
lion in his den with such an insignificant craft. 
In fact, most captains would have turned back 
home, disgruntled and timorous. Not so John 
Paul Jones. With what he had he would do the 
best he could. 

The Scotchman gave his ship a thorough re- 
fitting, and early in February he sailed into the 
harbor of Brest. A dense mass of ships-rigging 
filled the roadstead. Jones saw that it was the 
great French fleet under Count d'Orvilliers. 
Bent upon upholding the honor of the new Amer- 
ican flag, which was gayly flying from his mast- 
head, the Scotch Commodore asked, as a condi- 
tion of his entering the port, that a salute be given 
his colors. His request was granted. As the 
national emblem passed with dignity through the 
lanes of heavy battleships, the French guns roared 
out the first salute ever given by a foreign navy 
to the standard of the United States of America. 

Just one week earlier the Treaty of Alliance 
between the two countries, which first recognized 
American independence, had been signed at Ver- 
sailles. The salute to the flag was a temper- 
mental seal to the treaty. To Jones it was a 
matter of strong personal feeling. Not long be- 
fore, when the same resolution of Congress that 
had appointed him to the command of the Ranger 



78 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

had also decreed that the national flag should be 
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, and 
thirteen stars in a blue field, he had said, "The 
flag and I are twins." This association was now 
strong upon him. 

On the morning of April 24th the Ranger was 
oft* Carrickfergus, on the north coast of Ireland. 
Inside the harbor, and just on the point of coming 
out, was the Drake, a British sloop-of-war of 
twenty guns. Contrary winds and an incoming 
tide had delayed her. Now, as she saw the 
stranger in the offing, she sent out one of her 
boats to reconnoiter him. Lured on by the in- 
nocent-looking stern of the Ranger, the British 
scout came a little too near. The first thing her 
crew knew they were pounced on and made pris- 
oners. 

Apparently the Drake resolved to see why her 
men failed to come back. Out she came just be- 
fore sunset, approaching within hail in mid-chan- 
nel. The British flag went fluttering up to her 
masthead. At the same time the Stars and 
Stripes was flung out to the breezes by the 
Ranger. 

"Ahoy! what ship is that?" bawled the British 
captain. It was an unnecessary inquiry — one 
fraught with the confusion of the moment. The 
answer was perhaps as equally unnecessary. 
But it came: 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 79 

"The American Continental ship Ranger! 
Come on ; we are waiting for you !" 

Scarcely had the last word of the reply died 
away when there came a raking broadside from 
the American at close range. The Drake bore 
up, and poured back her own shot. 

Then for more than an hour the firing was 
continued, deluge after deluge of lead being 
thrown from one ship at the other. But the aim 
of the British gunners was not as good as that 
of the Americans. Most of the enemy fire passed 
harmlessly overhead or fell short, while that of 
the men on the Ranger as a rule found some tell- 
ing mark. 

After a while the Drake was in a sad plight. 
Her spars and rigging were hanging in shot-cut 
dilapidation and uselessness; her sails were flut- 
tering and flapping remnants of riven canvas ; her 
hull was polkadotted with further evidence of the 
good marksmanship of her adversary. Her com- 
mander fell, killed by a ball. Here and there on 
her deck lay many of her crew, wounded and 
dead. At last, when she had become "an unman- 
ageable log on the water" she struck her colors, 
and was boarded by the victors. 

The capture of the Drake was the first brilliant 
naval success of the war. The ships themselves 
were small and unimportant, it is true, but the 
results were large in comparison, and a great 



80 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

moral victory had been accomplished. This 
triumphant cruise of the little hornet in waters 
far from home, her seizure of numbers of prizes, 
her bold fire-brandery in the harbor at White- 
haven, and her even bolder capture of His Maj- 
esty's ship Drake right under the noses of the 
British nation, not only formed a grand and 
dramatic debut of the new-born navy of the 
United States, but it aroused and alarmed the 
enemy coast, filling all Englishmen with stunned 
surprise, indignation and humility. 

In addition, it gratified and won the admira- 
tion of France, the foe of Britain and friend of 
America. And most important of all, it brought 
to the bitterly-tried hearts of the Colonists in the 
distant new republic new courage, new confidence, 
new strength and new visions. 

THE " BON HOMME RICHARD " AND THE 
" SERAPIS " 

When he reached Brest with his prize, which 
was the first trophy of the war to reach France, 
John Paul Jones found his own vessel in such a 
deplorable condition that he saw it would take 
long weeks to put it once more in condition for 
service against the enemy. 

During this time he was thrown upon his 
own resources through the poverty of the Conti- 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 81 

nental government and the dishonoring of his 
draft by the commissioners. In order to provide 
food for his crew and supplies for his ship, he 
was forced to sell his prize. This act so dis- 
pleased his government that he was asked to 
hand over the command of the Ranger to her 
first-lieutenant. So when the ship finally sailed 
for home that fall, Jones was left in a foreign 
land with no prospect of a ship to rest his feet 
upon. 

It was truly a cheerless outlook. Further- 
more, his treatment by Congress had much hurt 
the brave man's heart. But he was not the kind 
either to grow bitter against his country or to 
grow hopeless. 

John Paul Jones had two powerful friends in 
France. These were the Duke de Chartres, 
eldest son of the Duke d'Orleans, and his 
wife, the Duchess de Chartres. Through 
them he was able to interest the King into 
providing him with a ship, the L'Duras, of 
forty guns. She was a very old craft. After 
spending three months in overhauling her, she 
was still not much better than a makeshift war- 
ship, for her batteries were mounted with the 
refuse guns of the French government — old 
rusty, loose-jointed relics that had served their 
real usefulness and were liable to blow to pieces 
when fired with a heavy charge. 



82 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

His crew, too, was a motley and ill-assorted 
bunch. Of the three hundred and seventy-five 
men whom he was able to collect, only fifty were 
Americans; the rest were French, Portuguese, 
and British. Fortunately, before the final date 
of sailing, the exchange of British and American 
prisoners of war gave him the opportunity of re- 
placing some of his alien seamen with one hun- 
dred and fourteen Americans. As he stood and 
viewed the muscular bodies and keen eyes of these 
fellows he breathed easier. 

All arrangements were completed in August, 
1779. By that time the L'Duras — whose name 
Jones had changed to Bon Homme Richard, out 
of compliment to Benjamin Franklin — had been 
converted into a fairly-efficient looking man-of- 
war. Besides the Bon Homme Richard, the 
squadron consisted of several smaller vessels, all 
commanded and crewed by Frenchmen. There 
was the Alliance, Captain Landais, a frigate of 
thirty-six guns; the Pallas, a frigate of twenty- 
eight guns, and the Vengeance, a brig of twelve 
guns. All excepting the Alliance belonged to 
the King, and French money paid the expenses of 
the expedition. Yet the ships sailed and the men 
fought under the American flag, and the French 
officers were for the time being commissioned of- 
ficers of the United States. 

Commodore Jones himself was looked upon as 
an irresponsible adventurer by most of the 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 83 

French officers, who were very jealous of the 
praise he had won from their countrymen for 
taking the British frigate Drake. It cannot be 
wondered at, therefore, that there was a good 
deal of discontent. 

The squadron finally set sail from L'Orient at 
daybreak, on the 14th of the month. The pro- 
jected cruise was to cover a circle around the 
British Islands and end at the Texel. Through 
calms and gales and shifting winds John Paul 
Jones worked his way up the west coast of Scot- 
land, and then beat down the east coast as far as 
the Firth of Forth. Finally they reached Spurn 
Head. In the meantime a number of seamen had 
deserted, most of the captains had shown a re- 
bellious disposition, and Captain Landais had re- 
volted to the extent of separating, with his ship, 
the Alliance, from the rest of the squadron. In 
spite of these drawbacks a number of prizes had 
been taken and sent to friendly ports with prize- 
crews. 

On September 226. news was brought to Jones 
by a passing friendly vessel that a large Baltic 
fleet of British vessels, laden with naval stores 
bound for England, had arrived in Bridlington 
Bay under convoy and was waiting for favorable 
winds to proceed on to the Downs. 

Commodore Jones felt a great leap of his heart. 
The moment he had passionately longed for had 



84 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

come at last. This was the finest kind of a 
chance to hit England a staggering blow. Sig- 
naling his consorts to follow, he headed north- 
ward for Flamborough Head. The following 
morning found his squadron twelve miles at sea, 
just north of Bridlington Bay. 

With his glass he scanned the harbor. He saw 
moving craft, headed outward. If his heart had 
leaped before it now fairly jumped out of his 
broad chest. Still watching, he observed the 
Baltic fleet sail out of the bay, and hugging close 
to land, scamper for the shelter of Scarborough. 

Instantly up to the masthead of the Bon 
Homme Richard went the signal for the chase. 
Then, noting their enemy after them, the mer- 
chant ships of Britain crowded sail, and their two 
escort ships moved out menacingly, like mother 
hens, to protect their retreat. 

Commodore Jones was nothing loth. In fact 
he was far more eager for a fight than they. At 
once he accepted the challenge, changed his 
course slightly, and bore down upon the British 
warships. The Alliance, which had for a long 
time been keeping at a distance, surly as a spoiled 
child, paid no attention to Jones's signal to form 
a battle line. On the contrary she stubbornly 
kept her place, and even had the audacity to signal 
the little Vengeance, "Lie to as you are; you are 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 85 

not big enough to bear a hand in this." The 
Vengeance obeyed the order of the rebellious 
Captain Landais, thus leaving only the Pallas 
loyally to follow after the Bon Homme Richard. 

The British escort ships were the Serapis, a 
new forty-four gun frigate, and the sloop-of-war 
Countess of Scarborough. Captain Cottineau, 
of the Pallas, gave chase to the sloop, which was 
running out to leeward, and during the coming 
fight he was so fully occupied in capturing her 
that he could render no assistance to his com- 
mander-in-chief. Thus Commodore Jones was 
left single-handed to face the formidable Brit- 
isher Serapis — left to fight it out on an old rotten 
hulk that should have been made into firewood 
long before it ever came into his hands. To make 
matters worse, his crew was foreign and unskilled 
and uncooperative, while Captain Pearson of the 
Serapis possessed men of the highest degree of 
training, perfectly organized. That this fight re- 
sulted in a victory for Jones is one of the most 
remarkable tributes to the generalship and fight- 
ing qualities of the man that could ever be paid 
him. Let us see how it all came about. 

It was seven o'clock in the evening before the 
two vessels came within striking distance. As 
the Bon Homme Richard came up, Captain Pear- 
son sent a shot whistling toward her. There was 



86 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

no answer. Af i;er scanning her in the fast-dim- 
ming light with his night glasses, he said to his 
first-lieutenant: "It is probably John Paul 
Jones. If so there is work ahead for us !" Then 
he hailed again — with another whistling shot. 

This time there was an answer. The darkness 
about the stranger was split with fiery forks of 
flame; there was a terrible roar — and a broadside 
sent its iron pellets toward the Serapis, several 
of them striking their mark. Captain Pearson 
was now quite positive of the identity of the 
stranger's commander. 

By this time the ships were within six hundred 
feet of one another. A light but steady wind 
was blowing from the southwest. The sea was 
smooth and comparatively peaceful. Soon both 
ships were engaged in the hottest kind of firing. 
Broadside sent its challenge, was accepted and 
answered by broadside. The surroundings were 
almost constantly bathed in the pale, livid light 
of flashing gunpowder, the contesting ships 
standing out like grim, black specters of the deep. 
The night air was split and shattered by the crash 
of cannon, the roar of mortar, the rattle of mus- 
ketry, the crash of mast, the splintering of hull, 
the wild and triumphant cries of men, and the 
hoarse shouts of alarm and death-shrieks of other 
men. 

In the midst of it all there came a rending 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 87 

roar, more portentous, more dreadful of inflec- 
tion that all other sounds, from the direction of 
the Bon Homme Richard. The inevitable had 
transpired. Riven with rust pits, weakened from 
long usage, two of the Richard's old eighteen- 
pounders had burst. They had formed a part of 
the steerage battery, just under the main deck, 
aft. The explosion killed or wounded most of 
the gun crews, and demoralized the crews of the 
four remaining eighteen-pounders, who refused 
to risk their lives longer in firing them. Thus at 
the very beginning Jones found himself greatly 
handicapped anew. 

A quiet word to his "pilot, and the Bon Homme 
Richard now began to drift closer in upon her 
antagonist. As the distance between them de- 
creased, the deadliness of fire of both vessels in- 
creased. Now pistols could be used ; and the din 
of their rattle was added to the other fulmination 
of sounds. The rotten timbers of the American 
ship was a veritable pincushion for the projectiles 
of the British gunners. They stuck in the old 
hull everywhere, and in places great gaping holes 
appeared. But the Serapis was far from es- 
caping her share of the damage. Her hull, too, 
showed many marks of well-aimed shot ; her decks 
were littered with dead and wounded. 

The ships drifted slowly apart, still righting 
madly. Lead rained down upon both crews as 



88 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

if the heavens themselves had turned storm- 
wrath into bullets. Nine of the Richard's 
twelve-pounders had been abandoned; eighty men 
of the main battery had been struck down. The 
condition of her deck was terrible to behold. The 
wreckage of rigging and cabin was scattered 
everywhere; stark, red-stained bodies lay here 
and there; wounded, with agonized countenance 
and moaning lips, propped themselves against 
every conceivable support ; the living and unhurt, 
with shirt-stripped bodies as black from powder- 
mark as a negro's, sprang wildly from point to 
point, loading and firing their pieces like mad- 
men. 

Matters below decks were even more alarming. 
The hull had been pierced by several heavy can- 
non ball, and the water was pouring in very 
fast. Already four feet deep in the hold, it was 
steadily increasing. 

Noting this situation Commodore Jones hur- 
ried up to his first-lieutenant, Richard Dale. 
"Dick," he said, "his metal is too heavy for us at 
this business. He is hammering our old wood 
hull all to pieces. We must attempt to get hold 
of him again!" 

It was really his last chance, his only hope. 
By a skillful maneuver he rounded the bow of the 
Serapis and suddenly came in upon her a little 
from the quarter. The enemy ship's jib-boom 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 89 

ran over the Bon Homme Richard's poop-deck. 
Before it could get away two of the American 
sailors had seized it, and Jones himself jumped 
up and lashed it fast to his ship's mizzenmast. 
This brought both ships together, side by side. 
Their cannon all but touched. The starboard 
anchor of the Serapis was hooked in the Rich- 
ard's mizzen chains. It was a secure lock. The 
rest of that furious fight must from now on be 
still more furious — a hand-to-hand struggle to 
the very death. 

At this juncture some of his officers came up 
to John Paul Jones, and attempted to persuade 
him to strike his colors. As he was about 
vehemently to reply, an under-officer, crazed with 
fear, shouted loudly to the British frigate: 
"Serapis ahoy! Will your commander grant us 
quarter ?" 

The indomitable Scotchman's face turned red 
with anger at this flagrant breach of discipline 
and show of weakness. Only the hail of Captain 
Pearson saved the cowardly officer from being 
knocked to the deck. 

"Does your commander himself call for quar- 
ter?" asked the British captain. 

Glancing up to his masthead, Jones was sur- 
prised to note for the first time that his ensign 
had been shot away. Stepping forward on the 
poop-deck he called back: "Quarter nothing! 
We have just begun to fight !" 



90 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Captain Pearson was stunned. Coming from 
any other man, he might have thought this de- 
fiant reply mere bravado. But he had heard 
enough about John Paul Jones to know he meant 
every word of it. In the beginning he could not 
understand why the call for quarter had come; 
only the absent ensign had impelled him to an- 
swer the under-officer's appeal. 

Commodore Jones now sprang on the quarter- 
deck, and became at once the life and center of 
the defense. He rallied his men at the battery, 
shifted over one of the guns himself, and directed 
the fire. Then he dashed among the French 
marines, cheered and exhorted them in their own 
tongue with his great voice, and even took the 
muskets from some of them to set them an ex- 
ample in good firing. 

The sole chance of victory plainly lay in clear- 
ing the enemy's decks. To do this everything 
depended upon the unswerving aim of the sailors 
in the tops and the marines on the decks. If the 
crew of the Serapis should succeed in casting off 
the lashings that held the two ships together, the 
fate of the Bon Homme Richard would be sealed. 
Himself directing all his energies to the defense 
of the grapples for a time, until the men under- 
stood the work, Jones next turned his attention 
to clearing the enemy's decks. 

In a short time the foe could no longer stand 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 91 

to his wheel or handle his sail. It was instant 
death to any British sailor who tried to touch a 
brace, sheet, or halliard. Their forecastle was 
soon abandoned by officers and men alike. 

At this stage — about half-past nine — Commo- 
dore Jones made out the Alliance coming up. 
He was filled with joy. With the aid of his sulk- 
ing consort, who had probably repented, he could 
soon gain the mastery. 

But it was a false hope. To his surprise and 
indignation, Captain Landais drew up and calmly 
discharged a full broadside into the stern of the 
Bon Homme Richard! Believing his rebellious 
officer must have mistaken him in the darkness 
for the enemy, the Commodore now displayed 
three lanterns in a horizontal line — a signal of 
his identity. 

The Alliance moved around a bit, there was 
another flash of flame along her hull, a roar, and 
once more came the thud of crunching wood in 
the Richard's hull, and several of her crew fell 
in their tracks. Another swing, and another 
broadside came hurtling into the sister ship. 
More men fell, a shot pierced the old hull below 
the waterline, and another leak was added to her 
too-plentiful troubles. 

John Paul Jones stood aghast. He could 
hardly bring himself to credit the Frenchman's 
treachery. He probably pinched himself to see 



92 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

if he were not asleep and dreaming. Slowly the 
terrible truth dawned on him — the Alliance had 
really turned traitor! Instead of a friend, she 
too was an enemy! 

The commander of the Bon Homme Richard 
smiled. But it was a grim smile, a smile that 
boded ill for somebody in short order. The more 
enemies the better he could fight. Now let them 
watch out! 

By this time the condition of the Richard was 
indeed desperate. Fire had broken out in the 
lower deck, and the flames, eating their way 
hungrily through the splinters that were every- 
where to feed them, licked their way toward the 
powder-magazine. Five feet of water were in 
the hold; the ship was slowly sinking. 

And still Jones's resources were not exhausted. 
Although the enemy's upper decks had been 
cleared, the lower tier, being covered, were un- 
touched. The Commodore now suggested drop- 
ping hand-grenades through the Serapis's main- 
hatch into this lower tier. For the purpose Mid- 
shipman Fanning, acting-gunner, and two sea- 
men were ordered aloft into the maintop. Armed 
with two buckets of grenades and a slow-match, 
these four men lay out on the yard-arm. 

The hatch was only partly open, leaving a hole 
not more than two feet wide. But the main yard- 
arm of the Bon Homme Richard overhung it. 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 93 

Fanning, who was known as a good thrower, was 
to do the casting. His first two grenades missed, 
but the third one went fairly into the opening. 

A terrible explosion followed. The hatch of 
the British frigate was blown high into the air, 
more than fifty men were killed or maimed, and 
the after part of the lower tier silenced. 

Just as the crew on the Bon Homme Richard 
were wildly cheering this exploit, the Alliance 
bore down for the second time upon her sister 
ship. Coming up within musket-shot she again 
raked the shattered and sorely-distressed vessel 
that was flying her own colors. Fired at alike 
by friend and foe it seemed the height of folly 
for Jones to persist, but he did. It was the fight- 
ing-strain in his Scotch blood, inherited from his 
Highland mother's male ancestors, that made him 
fight on and on, knowing no defeat, till death 
might claim him. 

Directing one of his gunners to aim for the 
mainmast of the Serapis, Jones soon had the sat- 
isfaction of seeing splinters fly and the mast 
waver. Another shot, and it sloughed, crash- 
ing into the sea, carrying with it rigging, and 
throwing up a geyser of spray far above the deck. 

Already the Commodore stood by with a picked 
party of boarders. Armed with pistols and 
cutlasses every man was ready for the last 
act. Jones now gave the signal, and the men, 



94 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

shouting loudly, and under the command of Act- 
ing-Lieutenant John Mayrant, plunged over the 
hammock netting and down into the fore-hold of 
the Serapis. Meeting with little opposition, they 
were soon in full possession, and rushed toward 
the quarter-deck. 

Seeing the hopelessness of resistance, Captain 
Pearson struck his colors. Not knowing this, 
his first-lieutenant rushed up a moment later, and 
asked, "Has the enemy struck, sir?" 

"No, sir ; / have struck," replied Pearson with 
tears in his eyes. 

It was the first time the British flag on a man- 
of-war was ever struck to the Stars-and-Stripes ! 

Although the enemy had surrendered there was 
still much work to do for the crew of the Bon 
Homme Richard. Victorious as she was, she 
was rapidly sinking, her old wounds having 
grown larger. Seven feet of water filled her 
hold. The pumps, still manned by the British 
prisoners, were beginning to choke. Of her 
former crew only a hundred men were left un- 
wounded, nearly every gun had been dismounted, 
her starboard side was completely stove in, and 
the flames were breaking out afresh, threatening 
to consume her or cause her magazine to blow 
her into a thousand bits. One alleviating cir- 
cumstance was that the profligate Alliance, hav- 
ing observed that the crew she so cravenly hated 



COMMODORE JOHN PAUL JONES 95 

had won the fight, had slunk away in the dark- 
ness and no longer contributed to the distress of 
the Richard. 

As may be surmised the crew of the latter ship 
had very little sleep the remainder of that night. 
When another day dawned, all of the wounded 
were removed to the Serapis, also the prisoners. 
Before any of the stores could be saved, she had 
begun to list badly, and it was deemed dangerous 
to remain any longer on her. 

All that night, however, the old shot-torn craft 
kept proudly afloat. Too much glory surrounded 
her for her to perish when eyes could not see. 
The first golden rays of next morning's sun still 
found her afloat. They caressed her pitiful 
ragged hulk into a brightness of unusual nobility 
and charm, and bathed the faces of the dead, ly- 
ing in long tiers on her deck, in a holy radiance. 

Suddenly she seemed to shudder. Then her 
head was seen to slowly bend. Lower and lower 
it sank, till the waves were lapping close to her jib- 
boom. There was a momentary pause, as if she 
were halting to take a last look at the scene of 
her sacrifice, when, with a rare dignity, she went 
down. As she plunged into the great depths 
awaiting her, her taffrail momentarily rose in the 
air. And the very last vestige mortal eye ever 
saw of the Bon Homme Richard was her waving, 
tattered flag, still unstruck! 



IV 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 

His few surviving comrades saw 

His smile, when rang their proud hurrah, 

And the red field was won ; 
They saw in death his eyelids close, 
Calmly, as to a night's repose, 

Like flowers at set of sun. 

— Halleck. 



Lord Horatio Nelson 

A GREAT SEA KING 

The deeds of Lord Nelson, Britain's greatest 
sea hero, form a dramatic chapter of life which 
should be a torch to fire the admiration of every 
boy in the land no matter from what country he 
hails. Especially should Nelson's exploits prove 
stimulating reading to the lad who is physically 
frail and has the erronous idea that the only ro- 
bust boys and men ever excel in feats of red- 
blooded daring. 

To have looked at Horatio Nelson's thin, pale 
face and slender body — particularly to have 
known of his frequent illnesses — you would never 
have connected him with great accomplishments 
requiring the snappy action of a healthy, vigor- 
ous mind, and the equally snappy action of a fear- 
less, obstinate fighter. The development of this 
boy into England's foremost sea-fighter aston- 
ished his youthful playmates and acquaintances 
quite as much as you, or one of your young 
friends of a "weak constitution" may sometime 
surprise your boyhood comrades. 

Nelson's life was a perfect drama in its happy 
rise, its glorious course, its heart-stirring ending. 

99 



ioo BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

The spot-light struck his figure when he was 
thirty-nine; at forty-seven his stage was steeped 
in darkness. But in those eventful eight years 
he had won his trio of marvelous triumphs, — 
Aboukir, Copenhagen, Trafalgar, — made Great 
Britain "mistress of the seas," and left a memory 
of such splendor behind him that his name will 
ever be dear to his countrymen and known to all 
future generations of reading peoples. 

This great man was born on the 29th of Sep- 
tember, 1758, at Norfolk, on the eastern coast of 
England. His schooling was scant. Although 
of a weak and sickly constitution his ambition 
from boyhood was to be a seaman, and when in 
1770 he heard that his uncle, Maurice Suckling, 
had been appointed to the command of the Rais- 
onable, he begged to join him. On this ship he 
sailed to the Falkland Islands, being then just 
twelve years old. A little later he made a year's 
voyage on a West Indian merchantman, on which 
he learned the essentials of his profession. 

In 1773 an expedition was fitted out by the 
Royal Geographical Society to sail to the North 
Pole. Young Nelson, then only fourteen, was 
wild to go. As no boys were allowed by the Ad- 
miralty he almost failed in this endeavor, but 
finally prevailed upon Captain Lutwidge, of the 
Carcas, to let him be a member as coxswain. 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 101 

When he returned from the ice-bound seas the 
year following he was a full-fledged able seaman. 

Then came a three-years' voyage to the East 
Indies under Admiral Hughes. This cruise, 
along fever-stricken, marshy shores, undermined 
his none-too-rugged health. A long sickness en- 
sued which came very near resulting in his end. 
For at least one moment in his life he felt an over- 
powering despondency. He saw before him the 
towering obstacles he must meet with in his 
chosen profession, and the tiny, puny, physical 
strength he had with which to meet them. His 
ambition consumed him, but his mind could see 
no way to satisfy it. This is how he afterward 
refers to it: "After a long and gloomy revery, 
in which I almost wished myself overboard, a 
sudden flow of patriotism was kindled within me, 
and I saw my King and countrymen very much 
smaller and weaker than I, needing my aid. My 
mind exulted in the idea. 'Well, then/ I ex- 
claimed, T will be a hero, and, confiding in Provi- 
dence, I will brave every danger !' " 

In those early years, and throughout his entire 
lifetime, duty and fame, in the order given, were 
the two thoughts that appealed to him most 
strongly, the two thoughts that constantly 
spurred on his endeavors. Duty kindled in him 
the most fearless and unswerving devotion to his 



102 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

fellowmen; renown lured him ever onward with 
its radiant, glittering honors. 

Nelson's promotion was swift. In July, 1778, 
he had won a first-lieutenancy on the 'Bristol, the 
flagship of Sir Peter Parker. Six months later 
he was appointed commander of the Badger, a 
brig. Then came a change to post-captain of 
the frigate Hinchingbrook, with which he pro- 
ceeded against American privateers among the 
West Indies. 

Finally, on February 1st, 1793, France declared 
war against Great Britain and Holland. An- 
ticipating trouble, two days before his govern- 
ment had appointed Nelson to the Agamemnon, 
a sixty-four-gun ship. 

During the ensuing four years, Nelson took 
part in many minor engagements, all helpful to 
his cause. Among these were the investments 
of Marseilles and Toulon, and the blockading of 
Bastia. In the latter action, while serving the 
battery, a shot of the enemy drove a quantity of 
sand in his right eye which eventually destroyed 
its sight. 

The chief event marking the opening of 1797 
was the first important naval operation connected 
with his name. This was the battle of Cape St. 
Vincent, fought against the Spaniards, the allies 
of France. 

At dawn, on the 14th of February, the British 






LORD HORATIO NELSON 103 

fleet of fifteen ships, under Sir John Jarvis, lay 
twenty-five miles west of Cape St. Vincent on the 
southern coast of Portugal. A heavy fog dark- 
ened the morning. Soon after eight o'clock this 
lifted, and there, coming toward them, the look- 
outs on the British vessels saw the grand fleet of 
Spain. The sight was enough to awaken ap- 
prehensions, for there were twenty-seven huge 
ships. Among these were the great Santissima 
Trinidad, carrying one hundred and twenty-six 
guns, and the San Josef of one hundred and 
twelve guns. One was a four-decker — the larg- 
est type of ship afloat, — and seven were three- 
deckers. The Spanish ships were in two sections, 
arranged in a most awkward line of battle, seem- 
ingly unable to unite. 

Meanwhile the British admiral made the signal 
to prepare. At eleven o'clock the line was 
formed, and at eleven-thirty action began. Nel- 
son's ship was thirteenth in line. The plan of 
Sir John was to run between the two divisions of 
the enemy's fleet, thus preventing their junction, 
and then assail them separately. 

When he had succeeded in dividing them in 
this manner, he made the signal to "tack in suc- 
cession." At this moment Nelson's chance came 
in. Seeing that it was the intention of the Span- 
ish admiral to run behind the British column and 
unite his lines, Nelson, without orders, passed 



104 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

from the rear, between the Diadem and Excellent. 
Reaching the Spanish column ahead of his com- 
patriots, he engaged single-handed the huge and 
formidable Santissima Trinidad. 

Shortly the Cnlloden, leader of the British van, 
came to his support, and for an hour the two 
plucky British ships had their hands full ; for by 
this time nine other Spanish vessels had come to 
the aid of their great consort. Then the pair of 
British boats were joined by the Blenheim and 
the Excellent, and the enemy craft San Ysidro 
and Salvador del Mundo were compelled to strike 
their colors. 

Nelson's own ship, the Captain, had suffered 
considerable damage. There was not a sail, 
shroud, or halliard, left intact; her wheel had 
been shot away. She was quite incapable of mak- 
ing chase, or fleeing under chase. Happily she 
had neither to do just now. She had been worked 
up alongside the San Nicolas, and the next in- 
stant Nelson ordered a party to board her. Cap- 
tain Berry was the first to leap to the Spaniard's 
deck. He was quickly followed by Nelson him- 
self. A few volleys of musket and pistol shot 
were exchanged, then the enemy backed away. 
Berry gained possession of the poop and hauled 
down the Spanish colors. At the same time Nel- 
son, on the forecastle, received the swords of the 
Spanish officers. 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 105 

Just at this time the San Josef came to the aid 
of her distressed sister-ship, firing on the Brit- 
ish abroad the San Nicolas. At this Nelson 
promptly called for reinforcements from the Cap- 
tain. Without waiting for these, the intrepid 
Englishman then ran across to the farther side 
of the enemy's deck and sprang to the rail of a 
large three-deck Spanish ship which lay close on 
that quarter. 

As he gained the deck of the second enemy 
craft, he met a Spanish officer. Apparently be- 
lieving that the British had boarded him also, and 
that resistance was hopeless, this officer at once 
gave his sword to the dauntless Nelson, who, 
quite dumfounded, received it, and listened to the 
Spaniard's words, "We surrender." 

A little later the Victory, Admiral Jervis's 
flagship, passed the disabled Captain and its two 
magnificent prizes, and saluted with three cheers, 
as did every ship in the fleet. 

On the 14th of July, 1797, Nelson, now a rear- 
admiral, received orders to sail for Santa Cruz. 
Information had come that a Spanish ship, the 
El Principle d'Asturias, was in this harbor, and 
would sail shortly to Cadiz with a rich treasure 
belonging to the crown of Spain which she had 
brought on from Manila. 

Four warships and three frigates, carrying a 
landing party of a thousand men under Captain 



106 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Troubridge, and one cutter, made up Nelson's 
squadron. He had planned a sudden and vigor- 
ous attack. Upon arrival, the boats, with troops 
and scaling-ladders, were ordered to land in the 
night, but a heavy gale of wind and a strong cur- 
rent prevented. The next day it was hoped to 
storm the heights behind the forts, while the 
ships discharged their batteries from in front. 
But when morning came calms and contrary cur- 
rents kept the large ships out of range, this con- 
dition prevailing for several days. 

By the 24th of July the Spaniards, who could 
readily see the British ships, had had four days 
in which to strengthen their works and increase 
the number of their troops. Nelson straightway 
made up his mind to do something at once. That 
day he wrote to Jervis: "To-morrow my head 
will probably be crowned with either laurel or 
cypress." There was, indeed, small hope for suc- 
cess. 

That night about eleven o'clock the boats ad- 
vanced quietly toward the town with seven hun- 
dred and fifty men. Nelson's barge led the way. 
Hardly had they proceeded to within half-gunshot 
of the mole than they were discovered, and a 
sharp fire of cannon and musketry opened upon 
them from one end of the town to the other. 

The sky was dark, and the surf high. A num- 
ber of the boats missed the landing; they were 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 107 

full of water in a minute, and stove in on the 
rocks. The ladders were all lost in the surf ; the 
ammunition was wet and useless. But the other 
barges reached the mole successfully. Led by 
Nelson, the British stormed it, drove back the five 
hundred Spaniards defending it, and prepared 
for further advance. However, such a heavy 
fire came from the citadel and town that the Brit- 
ish began to fall on all sides, and they were forced 
to retreat in the face of the terrible shower of 
bullets. 

Already a grapeshot had struck Nelson in the 
right elbow. His stepson, Josiah Nisbet, had 
placed him in the bottom of his boat, bandaged 
the wound tightly, and rowed back to the ships. 
As they neared them, a ball struck the cutter Fox 
beneath her waterline, and she went down. Al- 
though suffering intense pain from his wound, 
Nelson insisted on stopping to save the men strug- 
gling in the water. 

When they finally reached the Theseus, a rope 
was thrown over. With a rare display of forti- 
tude, Nelson climbed this to the ship's deck, and 
immediately called the surgeon to bring his in- 
struments, for he knew his arm must be ampu- 
tated. 

His feelings when he returned to his home 
shores after this mishap, with the defeat at Santa 
Cruz also on his mind, must have been bitter. 



io8 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

To add to his troubles, the amputation had been 
crudely done, and for long weeks he suffered tor- 
tures from the imperfect surgery. 

Yet it was after this, when he went forth again 
— a one-eyed and one-armed fighter — that the 
glorious luster of his renown attained the pin- 
nacle of its height, to burn undimmed to the 
end. 



THE FIGHT OF THE NILE 

France had made peace with most of the con- 
tinental powers and had extended her influence 
over all adjoining countries. In the spring of 
1798 she was concentrating her forces against 
Great Britain with the avowed purpose of de- 
stroying the British monarchy. Active prepara- 
tions were being urged forward in the seaport 
towns of the Mediterranean, both at the southern 
ports of France and at the friendly ports of Italy. 
Ships-of-the-line, transports and troops were as- 
sembling in large numbers. An extensive naval 
expedition was evidently being planned. 

This operation, which afterward proved to be 
the famous expedition of General Bonaparte to 
Egypt, was kept such a profound secret that its 
destination was not even surmised by the British. 
But the British government was sufficiently 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 109 

alarmed to cause it to decide to abandon its purely 
defensive tactics and to assume an offensive at- 
titude. 

At this stage Nelson, in command of the Van- 
guard, a seventy-four-gun ship, was off Cadiz 
with Lord St. Vincent. The latter now gave him 
two ships-of-the-line, the Orion and the Alexan- 
der, and four frigates, and sent him to watch 
Toulon and follow the movements of the French 
fleet. 

From off Cape Sicie, Nelson soon after re- 
ported that nineteen sail lay in the harbor of 
Toulon; that transports with troops frequently 
arrived from Marseilles; that twelve thousand 
men were already aboard the warships, and that 
hearsay had it the fleet would sail for an unknown 
port in a few days. 

Unhappily, the French fleet succeeded in slip- 
ping out of the harbor without Nelson detecting 
the fact until too late. This was owing to a 
strong gale dismantling the Vanguard and ren- 
dering it necessary to tow her to a port on the 
coast of Sardinia for repairs. The same storm 
drove the other vessels far apart, and precious 
days were lost in reassembling them. 

Thus it was not until the 7th of June that 
Nelson, bolstered by the addition of ten other 
ships from St. Vincent, took up his famous pur- 
suit of Bonaparte. He had been ordered to at- 



no BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

tack him wherever found. The French had a 
long start, and all that Nelson knew of them was 
that they had sailed southward between Italy and 
Corsica, and had been seen by a passing vessel 
off the north end of Sicily, steering to the east- 
ward. 

With this clew, the British squadron made off 
under full spread of canvas. As they went along, 
from time to time they picked up additional frag- 
ments of news regarding the chased which 
helped them materially to shape their course. 

It was a long and tedious search. There were 
times when they expected to CQme within sight 
of the enemy at any moment; other times when 
they almost despaired of ever seeing him. The 
want of fast frigates hampered Nelson a good 
deal, his heavy warships not having the requisite 
speed for a stern chase of this character. 

On the 15th of June he learned from a Tunis- 
ian cruiser that the French had been seen off 
Trapani in Sicily; on the 26th news came off 
Cape Passaro that the enemy had arrived and 
possessed themselves of Malta, and then gone 
eastward. From this Nelson was now pretty 
well convinced that Bonaparte intended to take 
some port in Egypt, establish himself at the 
head of the Red Sea, and carry a formidable 
army into Hindustan. If this surmise were cor- 



LORD HORATIO NELSON m 

rect, British interests in India were in great 
danger. 

But if to Egypt, where in Egypt had they gone ? 
After a consultation with his most trusted cap- 
tains, Nelson decided to head for Alexandria. 

Cruel suspense marked the next few days of 
the chase. Every moment, night and day, the 
lookouts in the foretops were at their posts, hop- 
ing to be able to report the first sight of the 
French. But disappointment still prevailed. 

Alexandria was reported in view on the 20th. 
Not a French sail was to be seen, nor could any 
information be gathered of the whereabouts of 
the other fleet. Nelson was much downcast, even 
mortified. His judgment for once had played 
him a trick. Lie did not know that he had really 
outstripped his adversary; that his unerring 
reasoning power had led him to Alexandria be- 
fore Bonaparte had arrived. The truth was, the 
French fleet had veered to the south shore of 
Candia, and strange as it may be, under cover of 
the night and a dense fog, the two rival forces 
had at one time been within gun range of one 
another without knowing it. 

Not aware of this, Nelson now stretched his 
ships over the coast of Asia, then steered along 
the northern shore of the Mediterranean, passed 
Candia once more, and returned to Syracuse 



ii2 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

sorely disappointed and humiliated, after a cruise 
of twenty-seven days. 

On the 23rd of July, not to be thwarted, Nel- 
son again set out in quest of the elusive French. 
Once more he sailed eastward and southward, 
still convinced that Egypt was the goal of the 
enemy but puzzled at his inexplicable disappear- 
ance. Six days later he sighted the Pharos of 
Alexandria — and there, in Aboukir Bay, fifteen 
miles from the port, rode the French fleet in 
solid battle array ! 

Nelson was not found unprepared. All 
through that long chase it had been his custom to 
hold almost daily conferences with his captains, 
during the courses of which plans for attack or 
defense under every conceivable condition had 
been worked out. Therefore it took but the 
briefest word now for the commander-in-chief to 
acquaint his officers with their part in the prob- 
lem that confronted them. 

It is from the extended accounts of Captain 
Berry of the Vanguard and Captain Miller of the 
Theseus that we know the details of this won- 
derful battle fought in the inky darkness of the 
night, in waters and among islands and headlands 
entirely unknown to every officer in the British 
fleet. 

When the French first saw him, the enemy was 
nine or ten miles to the southward, with Aboukir 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 113 

promontory and island and a network of danger- 
ous shoals and reefs lying between. The keen 
eye of Nelson saw the weak point in the enemy's 
position; he noted that where there was room 
for a French ship to swing, there was also room 
for a British ship to anchor. By taking up posi- 
tions inside as well as outside of the French line, 
he could concentrate his fire on the van and center 
of the enemy, while the wind would prevent the 
rear of the French from coming to the assistance 
of their consorts. 

Circling around Aboukir point, and giving the 
shoals a safe berth, the British ships advanced 
upon the enemy in a single column. First came 
the Goliath, followed in order by the Zealous, the 
Orion, the Audacious, and the Theseus. The 
Vanguard, Nelson's flag-ship, was sixth in line. 
A few minutes before sunset the Goliath and the 
Zealous opened up with their heaviest guns, and 
ten minutes later Nelson gave the signal to en- 
gage the enemy at short range. 

Advancing with silent guns, the British ships 
could be seen to have many sailors aloft who 
were furling sails and hauling in braces, prep- 
aratory to casting anchor. As they swung in to 
take their positions, the concentrated fire of the 
French broadsides was projected into their bows. 
Then with swift movement and masterly daring 
the Goliath and the Zealous worked around the 



ii4 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

enemy's flank. Although deluged by his fierce, 
raking fire, they passed inside his line. A mo- 
ment later the inshore side was taken by the 
Orion, the Theseus, and the Audacious, while the 
Vanguard and four other vessels pitched into the 
French front and center on the outside. 

Considering that they had been thus cleverly 
subjected to two fires, the French fought with 
admirable courage. The Theseus and the Guer- 
rier engaged in almost a grapple, not six feet 
apart. The guns of the former, loaded with two 
and three round-shot, belched their flame and hot 
lead directly into her adversary. In the twinkle 
of an eye the mizzen masts of the British ship 
fell by the board, her foremast having gone be- 
fore. A little way off, twenty minutes later, the 
Conqucrant and the Spartiate, both French, were 
also dismasted. 

In the very face of success, Nelson was struck 
down. A bullet had hit him in the forehead, 
blinding him completely for the moment. 
Quickly he was carried below in the arms of Cap- 
tain Berry, and a surgeon summoned. After his 
wound had been dressed, and while he was still 
suffering intensely, he groped for a pen and pa- 
per and scrawled the first words of his dispatch 
to St. Vincent announcing the victory. 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 115 



THE VICTORY OF TRAFALGAR 

Following the events recorded, Nelson had 
gained a brilliant victory at Copenhagen, had 
been raised to the rank of viscount, and in Octo- 
ber, 1 80 1, took his seat in the House of Lords. 
About the same time cessation of hostilities 
with the French republic was announced, and 
the following March a treaty of peace was 
signed. 

Just a little over a year later — in May, 1803, — 
war with France broke out afresh. Nelson was 
appointed commander-in-chief of the King's 
ships in the Mediterranean. On the 18th he 
hoisted his flag on board the Victory, the ship 
whose name was to become almost as immortal 
as his own as the one in which he fought his 
last battle and won the crowning triumph of his 
life. 

Meanwhile at Toulon and Brest the French 
navy was being daily increased and put into ef- 
fective condition. New ships were equipped, 
troops gathered for embarkation; every prepara- 
tion was being made for a fresh naval expedition 
of large proportions — none less than the invasion 
of England. For this purpose Napoleon had 
been drilling an army of one hundred and fifty 



n6 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

thousand men, and collecting a fleet of thirty-five 
ships. The squadrons were to assemble at the 
West Indies, and from there sail for the Straits 
of Dover. 

Cognizant of the assembling of the squadron 
at Toulon, Lord Nelson joined Sir Richard Bick- 
erton, and on the 8th of July began the blockade 
of that port. It was the most tedious kind of 
work, this effort to keep the French vessels within 
from getting out, and keeping those from without 
getting in. But through fair weather and foul, 
calms, winds, squalls and gales, the blockading 
was faithfully carried on, although only four of 
his ships were strictly seaworthy craft. Nelson's 
sagacity showed him the importance of prevent- 
ing the junction of the French squadrons, and 
he made up his mind to maintain his vigil if it 
should take the balance of his life. If the French 
ships did attempt to break through him there at 
Toulon he would give them battle. 

This is exactly what the French presently un- 
dertook to do. After being bottled up by the 
British for fully a year and a half, their fleet, 
under Admiral Villeneuve, slipped quietly out of 
Toulon harbor on the night of the 17th of Jan- 
uary, bound for Sardinia. 

Nelson's two lookout frigates signaled him of 
the enemy's act two days later. Within three 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 117 

hours Nelson was at sea in hot pursuit. He 
scoured the Mediterranean in the worst weather 
he had ever seen; gale after gale tossed his ships 
over the angry waters. It seemed that the storms 
never would abate. 

Now it happened that the same ill weather that 
tormented Nelson, and added to the perplexities 
of the pursuit, created havoc with many vessels 
of the pursued. So battered did they become, 
that Villeneuve was driven to return to the port 
he had just quitted, in order to repair them. 
When the craft had all been refitted, Villeneuve 
again set sail. 

Meanwhile Nelson, unaware of the enemy's 
procedure, had been battling and drifting with 
the storms. He had been to Naples, Sicily, and 
Sardinia; to Alexandria, Candia, and Malta; he 
had "covered the channel from Barbary to Toro 
with frigates and the fleet." Yet — of course — 
he saw nothing of the French fleet. 

It was deeply mortifying to Nelson to be thus 
outwitted; he smarted immeasurably under the 
humiliation. He made up his mind, finally, to 
go out of the Mediterranean, working westward. 
Storms and unfavorable winds continued to dog 
him. In his diary at this time we find he has 
written: "My good fortune seems flown away; 
I cannot get a fair wind. Dead foul! — dead 
foul!" 



n8 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Through the Straits, through the Gut, past 
Cape St. Vincent, then straight across the At- 
lantic to the West Indies, the British fleet strug- 
gled on. With Nelson at the head there was no 
such thing as giving up. Then came the Barba- 
does and fresh rumors that the French fleet had 
been seen in the Caribbean waters. On he plowed 
to Tobago, to Trinidad, to Montserrat, to An- 
tigua. 

Had the enemy been at the latter place ? Yes ; 
but he had gone. Once more he had slipped 
through Nelson's fingers. He grimaced, thought 
of his long and similar chase after Bonaparte, of 
its successful outcome, and — kept doggedly on. 

Following rumors as to the direction taken by 
the French, he now turned about and headed 
across the Atlantic toward Cadiz. On the 18th 
of July, three months after he had left the Strait 
of Gibraltar and had covered nearly seven thou- 
sand miles of sea, he sighted Cape Spartel. But 
there was no French fleet. Two days later he 
reached Cadiz, and went on shore for the first 
time in two years. 

A few days following he heard that the enemy 
had been seen steering northward. In that di- 
rection he went. But it was only to find nothing. 
Receiving orders to return to England, he sailed 
for Spithead. 

His stay was short. Two weeks after his ar- 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 119 

rival he sailed from Portsmouth to Cadiz, where 
he joined Vice-Admiral Collingwood. The force 
under his command then counted twenty-seven 
warships. In the harbor were the combined 
fleets of France and Spain under the command of 
Villeneuve and Gravina. Villeneuve at last! 
With the enemy were thirty-six warships and a 
number of frigates, apparently all ready for sea. 

On the morning of the 19th of October, Nelson 
was cruising off Cape Trafalgar, keenly alert to 
any movement of the enemy. It was a clear day, 
with an easterly wind. All at once the signal 
flew up on the British lookout ships that the 
French were coming out of port. Seeing this, 
Nelson ran up the signal for a "general chase." 
The effort was to prevent the enemy from enter- 
ing the Mediterranean. Toward the Strait of 
Gibraltar went the British ships, tearing along 
under full sail. 

Two days later — at dawn of Monday, October 
2 1st — the whole French and Spanish fleets had 
put to sea and were formed in a curved line of 
battle, stretching five miles from tip to tip, off 
the southern coast of Spain. On one side lay 
Cadiz; on the other, Cape Trafalgar; in the far 
distance was the Strait of Gibraltar, through 
which the British were bound the enemy should 
rfot escape. Evidently he had determined the 
only alternative left for him now was to fight it 
out. 



120 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Towering high among the craft of the Allies 
was the great Spanish ship, Santissima Trinidad, 
the largest vessel afloat and carrying one hun- 
dred and twenty-six heavy guns — a ship we have 
met before. Directly next to her rose the masts 
of the Bucentaure, the famous flagship of the 
commander-in-chief, Admiral Villeneuve. On 
either side of these Spanish and French leader- 
craft stretched the extensive wing of their con- 
sort, bristling with guns, ready for the conflict. 

For Nelson the moment sought for two years 
and four months had at last arrived. Appearing 
on deck of the Victory, dressed in his admiral's 
coat, and covered with a blaze of decorations 
which were the pride of his heart, he made in 
quick succession the signals: "Form the order 
for sailing," "Prepare for battle," "Bear up." 

Beating round, the British now came forward 
in two columns to the attack. Admiral Colling- 
wood, in his flagship, the Royal Sovereign, headed 
the column to the south, while the Victory led 
the northern ships. 

Toward eleven o'clock Nelson went below, and 
on his knees wrote the words of his noble prayer : 
"May the great God whom I worship grant to 
my country, and for the benefit of Europe in gen- 
eral, a great and glorious victory. . . . Amen." 
He followed this almost immediately afterward 
with the memorable message which was the last 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 121 

to his fleet, "England expects every man will do 
his duty." Shouts and cheers along the whole 
line greeted the inspiring words. 

Directing her guns full upon the Spanish line, 
the Royal Sovereign began firing as soon as she 
was within range. At the same time the Victory 
swept down upon the Bucentaure, on the French 
wing. As Nelson drew nearer the whole artil- 
lery of the French van was directed upon him in 
a staggering violence. Then he opened up on the 
Bucentaure with such a terrific retaliatory fire 
that twenty of her guns were speedily dismounted 
and four hundred of her men killed or wounded. 

Leaving >the French flagship to his consorts, 
Nelson now turned his attention to the Redoubt- 
able, which had already been attacking him. 
Running up close to the second French ship, he 
ordered the guns on that side to be fired. As 
they spat out their flame and shot, the Redoubt- 
able shivered, for the range was so close that the 
guns of both vessels were almost touching. 

Nelson and Captain Hardy paced the quarter- 
deck of the Victory. With satisfaction both 
noted the effectiveness of the British fire. Al- 
most above them, fifty feet up, the mizzentop of 
the rival craft swarmed with the best of France's 
sharpshooters. They had been told by their com- 
mander to "bring down Nelson — the officer with 
the medals" if ever the chance presented itself. 



122 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Now that opportunity was theirs. There he 
stood below them in clear, unobstructed view, 
hidden only at moments by the shifting clouds of 
battle smoke. A number of French muskets were 
quickly raised in the enemy mizzentop. The 
muzzles were trained downward at the calm and 
unconcerned one-armed admiral. 

Just then a number of his men noted his peril 
— saw the Frenchmen aloft — saw their deadly 
intent. A warning cry was raised, and a number 
of British bullets sped upward, and found marks. 
But it was too late. As Nelson wheeled about 
several of the French sharpshooters' guns 
cracked, and Nelson, shot through the back, fell 
to the deck. 

Captain Hardy was quickly stooping over him. 
"They have done for me at last;" gasped the 
great admiral, "my backbone is shot through!" 

He was carried below to the cockpit, among 
the wounded and the dying, where everything was 
done to relieve his suffering. There for three 
hours he lay, listening intently to the incessant 
strife going on overhead in an effort to detect 
which way the battle seemed to be going, while 
his own life moments ticked rapidly away to the 
zenith of the dial. Of attendants and wounded 
alike, as they appeared, he asked weakly, "Are we 
still winning?" 

Before he lapsed into unconsciousness he knew 



LORD HORATIO NELSON 123 

that the Bucentanre had been taken; that while 
his flag was still flying seventeen of the French 
and Spanish ships had been captured, and one of 
the most glorious of British sea victories had 
been virtually won. Even as he was closing his 
eyes for the last time, the roaring guns fell into 
peaceful silence, and everything was hushed and 
quiet when he whispered his final words, "Thank 
God, I have done my duty!'' 



V 



THE BURNING OF THE 
"PHILADELPHIA" 

'Twere better thus to sink where it stood 
The ship he loved than that it should 
Be used by foe against the good 

Of his countrymen. 

Swift stroke of oar — then 
Flames on the ship shot to'rd the sky, 
And when the pirates saw the why 
They raged with mad, defeated cry. 

— Curtis. 



The Burning of the Philadelphia 

For us of to-day it is very difficult to conceive 
that there ever was a time when the United States 
paid money to another country to be left un- 
molested. It is even more difficult for us to im- 
agine the United States paying such a tribute to 
pirates. 

And yet this is exactly what America did once 
upon a time. Moreover those same pirates, — 
the sea-robbers of the Barbary coast states of 
Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, lying along 
the northern coast of Africa — had succeeded by 
their indiscriminate and destructive raids on com- 
merce in forcing most of the civilized powers of 
Europe to bend to their demands for a tribute in 
order to be left alone. Even then peace did not 
come. These disreputable corsairs of the seas, 
— like the bully who takes the small boy's marbles 
from him in agreement of friendliness and then 
turns with cuffs and blows to demand more treas- 
ure — boldly continued to prey on Mediterranean 
merchantmen, to slyly deny their misdeeds, and 
to offer generous new assurances that all would 

be well in case a little more tribute were offered. 

127 



128 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

The only excuse that America can offer for 
ever entering into a shameful bargain of this 
kind, and maintaining it as long as she did, is 
that "everybody else was doing it." For this 
purpose Congress appropriated money, and trea- 
ties were made by the President and ratified by 
the Senate. On one occasion, at least, Congress 
actually revoked the order for new ships for the 
navy, and took the money to again buy off those 
pests of the seas, the Barbary bucaneers. The 
fund for this disgraceful purpose was known as 
the "Mediterranean Fund," and was entrusted to 
the Secretary of State to be disbursed by him at 
his own discretion. 

Thus matters went on for some years. But 
the time was soon to come when a summary stop 
was to be put upon the blackmailing — at least for 
this country. After the United States had its 
brush with France in 1798, and following Trux- 
tun's brilliant victory over the French frigate 
L'Insurgente in the next year, it occurred to the 
American government that perhaps there was a 
more efficient and more manly way of dealing 
with the Barbary powers than feebly handing 
thousands of dollars over to them every time they 
took a notion to demand it. 

This change of attitude was largely occasioned 
by a number of complaints which came in about 



BURNING THE PHILADELPHIA 129 

this time from the blackmailers themselves. I 
think you can guess pretty well as to the nature of 
these grievances. The Pasha of Tripoli whined 
that we had given more money to some of the 
Algerian ministers than to him ; the Algiers gov- 
ernment grumbled that we should not pay Tripoli 
so much; Morocco and Tunis pleaded for better 
treatment. With nations as with individuals, 
when the payment of black-mail is once begun 
there is no end to it. In the present instance the 
situation was made even more acute by the decla- 
ration of the Pasha of Tripoli that he had ordered 
his subjects to cut down the flagstaff in front of 
the residence of the American consul, and was 
about to declare war against us. This meant a 
renewed onslaught against our merchantmen by 
his pirates unless we immediately stepped forth 
with sufficient gifts to buy the old rascal off. 

In answer the United States government did a 
most fitting thing. In 1801 Congress sent Com- 
modore Dale with a small squadron of warships 
to teach the pirates a much-needed lesson. 

No sooner had the expedition reached the Med- 
iterranean than the cowardly Morocco and Tunis 
stopped their grumbling and came to terms with 
the United States. This left Tripoli alone to be 
dealt with. 

As Commodore Dale had sailed before the 



130 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

declaration of war with Tripoli was known, he 
was hampered by his orders, which permitted him 
to protect our commerce only, and which forbade 
hostilities. Nevertheless he was destined to get 
into a fight, for hardly had he appeared off 
Tripoli than he was fired upon by the Tripolitan 
ship Tripoli, of fourteen guns. No self-respect- 
ing, peacefully-inclined American would ever 
stand that, and Dale's own guns were quickly 
barking away in defense. 

The engagement lasted a matter of three hours. 
Then the Tripoli, having suffered sufficiently for 
her temerity, struck her colors. Her mizzen- 
mast was gone, she was riddled with the well- 
aimed shot of the Americans, and fifty of her 
crew lay wounded or dead. Scarcely any Amer- 
icans on the Enterprise — the twelve-gun ship 
commanded by Lieutenant Sterret which had 
fought this battle — had been wounded. It was 
a signal victory. As he had no orders to make 
captures, Sterret threw all the guns and ammuni- 
tion of the Tripoli overboard, cut away her re- 
maining masts, and left her with only one spar 
and a single jury sail to drift back to Tripoli — a 
hint to the Pasha of the new American policy. 

In 1803 the command of the United States fleet 
in the Mediterranean was taken over by Com- 
modore Preble, who had just succeeded in forcing 
satisfaction from Morocco for an attack made 



BURNING THE PHILADELPHIA 131 

upon his country's merchantmen by a vessel from 
Tangier. He was preparing to enforce a block- 
ade of Tripoli when news reached him that the 
frigate Philadelphia, of forty-four guns, com- 
manded by Captain Bainbridge, and one of the 
best ships in the United States navy, had gone 
upon a reef in the harbor of Tripoli. It was 
said that the mishap occurred while she was pur- 
suing an enemy, and that while she lay helpless 
she had been surrounded and captured by Tripoli- 
tan gunboats. 

This was a very serious blow. It not only 
weakened the American force in those waters, but 
it was also a great help to the enemy, for it prom- 
ised to add another vessel to their own fleet. In 
fact they got the Philadelphia off the rocks, towed 
her into the harbor, and anchored her close under 
the guns of their forts. They also replaced her 
batteries, and made every effort to prepare her 
for service against her own ships. 

At this critical time Stephen Decatur came 
upon the scene to save the day for his country- 
men. Decatur, a young lieutenant of the Enter- 
prise, appeared before Commodore Preble and 
offered to go into the harbor and destroy the 
Philadelphia. 

Preble was willing, after talking at length with 
the intrepid young man and hearing his plans in 
detail. But some delay ensued in carrying out 



132 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

the program, as the squadron was driven off the 
coast by severe gales. However, in January, 
1804, the favorable moment having apparently 
arrived, the Commodore assigned to Decatur a 
small vessel known as a "ketch" which had re- 
cently been captured from the enemy. 

Decatur took seventy men from the Enterprise 
and put them on the Intrepid, as he now chose 
to rechristen the prize. Then, accompanied by 
Lieutenant Stewart in the Siren, who was to 
support him, he set sail for Tripoli. The little 
ketch proved very cramped quarters for so many 
men, but they were used to discomforts in those 
days, and finally reached their destination with- 
out mishap. 

For almost a week they were unable to ap- 
proach the harbor, owing to severe gales which 
threatened the loss of their vessels, and ran into 
a hidden bay for protection. But the weather 
moderated, and on February 16th they stole out 
in the darkness of the night and made their way 
into the harbor. 

All this time the Philadelphia, with forty guns 
mounted, double-shotted and ready for firing, and 
manned by a full complement of the pirates, was 
moored within half-gunshot of the Pasha's castle, 
the mole and crown batteries, and within easy 
range of ten other batteries which mounted a 
total of over a hundred guns. Some Tripolitan 



BURNING THE PHILADELPHIA 133 

cruisers, two galleys, and nineteen gunboats also 
lay between the Philadelphia and the shore. 

Leaving the Siren behind, into the midst of 
this powerful armament of the enemy Decatur 
had to go with his little vessel and only four guns. 
But he was undismayed. By seven o'clock he 
was stealthily making his way between the reefs 
and shoals which formed the mouth of the har- 
bor. With the aid of a light wind blowing in- 
shore the ketch bowled silently along. Her mas- 
ter steered straight toward the Philadelphia, 
whose position he well knew and whose lights he 
could soon make out, like burning embers against 
the dark heart of night. By nine-thirty he was 
within two hundred yards of the former Ameri- 
can frigate. 

As they approached Decatur stood at the helm 
with the pilot, only two or three men showing on 
deck. The rest of the crew of seventy-five were 
lying hidden under the bulwarks. In this man- 
ner the Intrepid drifted to within twenty-five 
yards of the Philadelphia before she was hailed 
by the lookouts. The cry was in a foreign tongue 
whose meaning the young American could only 
guess at. He answered back in English, hoping 
that it would be understood; "This is the In- 
trepid" 

"You Angleesh?" came <"he broken inquiry 
through the darkness. 



134 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

"We are alone," said Decatur, as though he 
had either not heard or had misunderstood the 
question. "We are in need of aid." 

"What wrong?" was the next call. Evidently 
the pirate's suspicions, if he had any, were al- 
layed, as Decatur intended they should be. 

"Our anchors have been lost in the gale," was 
the truthful answer. (The Intrepid and Siren 
had each lost an anchor.) "Will you let us run 
a warp to your ship and ride by her till morn- 
ing?" 

The truth of the matter is, while this little by- 
play had been going on, some of Decatur's men 
had already lowered a small boat with the avowed 
purpose of rowing to the Philadelphia whether 
a favorable or an unfavorable answer resulted. 
A reply that sounded very much like "You come" 
came from the captured frigate. Instantly De- 
catur leaped into the small boat with a rope, fol- 
lowed by a couple of his men. In a few minutes 
they had pulled to the big shadowy hull of the 
Philadelphia and made fast their line to her fore- 
chains. He then twitched the rope sharply three 
times, a pre-arranged signal, and at once his crew 
on the ketch began to haul the latter toward the 
pirate craft. 

At this juncture the suspicions of the Tripoli- 
tans seemed suddenly awakened. There came a 
harsh, alarmed cry of "Americanos!" and the 



BURNING THE PHILADELPHIA 135 

strangers were ordered away in no uncertain 
terms of pidgin-English. 

But those buccaneers knew not with whom they 
were reckoning. At the first sign of alarm on 
the part of the enemy, Decatur sprang up the 
main chains of the Philadelphia, shouting to his 
men to board her at once. He was rapidly fol- 
lowed by his officers and crew. 

As the Americans swarmed over the rails and 
came upon the deck the pirates gathered in a 
panic-stricken, confused mass on the forecastle. 
Apparently they thought themselves assailed by 
an opponent many times more numerous than 
themselves, whereas, in truth, the odds were all 
on their own side had they but known it. 

Decatur waited a moment until his men were 
all behind him. Then, placing himself at their 
head, he drew his sword and rushed upon the 
Tripolitans. There was a sharp, but very brief 
conflict. The pirates, terrorized from the begin- 
ning, stood before the fierce onslaught only long 
enough to see scores of their number go down un- 
der the unerring pistol-shots and cutlass-thrusts 
of the Americans, and then those of them who 
could fled to the rails and jumped madly over- 
board. 

Could he have done so it would have been the 
immediate effort of Decatur now to take the Phil- 
adelphia out of the harbor. But this he knew to 



136 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

be impossible. He therefore gave orders to burn 
the ship, and his men, who had been thoroughly 
instructed in their parts, dispersed to all sections 
of the vessel with the combustibles that had been 
prepared. So well and quickly did they work, a 
few minutes later flames broke out in practically 
all parts of the frigate at once. 

Satisfied that he could do no more, Decatur 
ordered his men to return to the Intrepid. 
Quietly, without confusion, they obeyed, although 
there was a pang in the throat of many a man of 
them because the dear old Yankee frigate must 
perish in this ignoble manner. 

It was a moment of unusual peril. The fire 
was breaking out all along the Philadelphia, and 
the flaming brands and sparks were already be- 
ginning to fly. Should any of these fall onto 
the deck of the little Intrepid, lying by, she too 
would be afire in a moment, with great danger of 
her powder magazine catching and blowing her 
to fragments. 

The Americans were quickly aboard their own 
craft, however. The next instant they had 
slashed the cables, manned the sweeps, and were 
bearing away from the larger ship. 
- It was a magnificent sight to see those great 
licking tongues of pallid red bursting forth 
from the hull and decking of the Philadelphia, as 
the ketch swiftly drew farther and farther away, 



BURNING THE PHILADELPHIA 137 

afraid that in the bright and expansive reflection 
of the conflagration the enemy on shore could de- 
tect them and shoot them down before they could 
get out of range. 

Soon the tongues of fire were creeping up the 
tall masts of the frigate, and clutching first one 
shivering shroud and then another in their con- 
suming tentacles. As the ship's guns became 
heated, they were discharged, as if by phantom 
gunners, shattering the silence of the night into 
quivering echoes. And, as if in a final effort to 
wreak vengeance on the foreigners who had 
brought her to this, the grand old frigate now 
let go her shoreward batteries, and the heavy shot 
went hurtling into the midst of pirate craft and 
shoreworks. Finally her cables parted, and, an 
awesome pyre of wreckage, she drifted across the 
harbor, to finally blow up. 

Meantime the waters in the vicinity had been 
illuminated almost like day. The escaping In- 
trepid stood out against the light background like 
a blot of ink on a white sheet of paper. An angry 
roar went up from the buccaneer populace of 
Tripoli. Shore guns and ship's guns began to 
cast their venomous hate toward the frail craft 
of the fleeing ones. But fortune favored the 
Americans; they kept on pulling for dear life, a 
friendly puif of wind soon filled their sail, and 
soon they were out of range and once more en- 



138 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

gulfed in darkness. A little later they came up 
with the Siren, and bore away to rejoin Commo- 
dore Preble. 

This successful venture was carried through 
solely by the cool courage of Stephen Decatur 
and the admirable discipline of his men. The 
hazard was very great ; everything had depended 
on the nerve with which the attack was made and 
the completeness of the surprise. Nothing mis- 
carried; no success could have been more com- 
plete. Lord Nelson — at that time in the Mediter- 
ranean, and the best judge of a naval exploit that 
ever lived — pronounced it "the most bold and 
daring act of the age." In any event, it is one of 
those feats of arms which no American should 
ever forget, for although of no great importance, 
it fittingly illustrates the keen resourcefulness and 
high courage of American seamen. 



VI 



PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE 

They fought like tigers on that deck 
Till ship was shatter'd and a wreck; 
But as she sank in splendor to her grave 
The brave old flag did still wave 
From her last boat, speeding well, 
'Midst burning shot and shrieking shell, 
And fearless sailors pulled at oar 
Till flag adorned a ship once more. 

— At her ton. 



Perry's Victory on Lake Erie 

Because disagreement broke out between the 
United States and Great Britain relative to the 
latter country's right to search American vessels 
and seize British naval deserters who had vol- 
untarily enlisted in the merchant marine of Amer- 
ica, war was declared on the 18th of June, 1812, 
by the newer country. 

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a native of 
Rhode Island, and twenty-seven years old, had 
assumed command of Lake Erie and the other 
upper Great Lakes. In the very beginning this 
was rather a nominal command, for Lake Erie, 
the most important waterway of the lot at the 
time, was in exclusive control of the foe. But 
the Americans had captured a British brig called 
the Caledonia, and purchased three schooners 
which were afterward named the Somers, the 
Tigress, and the Ohio, also a sloop, the Trippe. 
For a time these were blockaded in the Niagara 
River, only to be released after the fall of Fort 
George and the retreat of the English forces. 

Only by the hardest labor was Commodore 

Perry able to tack these ships up against the 

current to Presque Isle (now called Erie), where 

141 



142 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

two twenty-gun brigs were being constructed un- 
der his directions. Three schooners — the Ariel, 
the Scorpion, and the Porcupine — were also built. 

The harbor of Erie was well-protected and 
spacious, and a most excellent place for Perry's 
indefatigable efforts at building up a small fleet 
with which to chase the enemy off the waters un- 
der his direction. But it possessed one feature 
which, while an aid in the way of keeping the 
British from getting in, now turned into a dis- 
advantage to the Americans in the way of keep- 
ing them from getting out. This was an ex- 
tensive sandbar across the harbor's mouth. At 
times the storms shifted this into such propor- 
tions that vessels of deep draught could not pass 
over it; at other times the waters wore it down 
so the passage could be made quite readily. Just 
now it was a dangerous, if not an impossible, ob- 
stacle. 

While Perry was busy trying to devise some 
method to circumvent the sandbar, Captain Rob- 
ert Barclay, commander of the British forces on 
the lake, appeared off the harbor and proceeded 
to make matters additionally tight for the Ameri- 
cans by instituting a blockade. This the enemy 
maintained till August 2nd, 1812, when their 
ships disappeared. 

Anticipating an early return of the foe, Perry 



PERRY'S VICTORY 143 

made hasty preparations for escape. On the 4th ; 
at two o'clock, one American brig, the Lawrence, 
was towed to that point of the bar where the 
water was deepest. Her guns had been dis- 
mounted and placed on the beach, to make her as 
light as possible. It was proposed to get the ship 
over by what is termed a "camel." This is how 
Commodore Perry himself, in a report, describes 
the procedure: 

"Two large scows, prepared for the purpose, 
were hauled alongside, and the work of lifting 
the brig proceeded as fast as possible. Pieces of 
massive timber had been run through the for- 
ward and after ports, and when the scows were 
sunk to the water's edge the ends of the timbers 
were blocked up, supported by these floating 
foundations. The plugs were now put in the 
scows, and the water was pumped out of them. 
By this process the brig was lifted quite two feet, 
though when she was got on the bar it was found 
that she still drew too much water. It became 
necessary, in consequence, to cover up every- 
thing, sink the scows anew, and block up the 
timbers afresh. This duty occupied the whole 
night." 

Barely had the Lawrence passed the bar, at 
eight o'clock the next morning, than the enemy 
suddenly appeared. But the British were too 



144 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

late. Captain Barclay exchanged a few shots 
with the American craft, and then withdrew. 

The Niagara was the next ship to cross the bar, 
then the others followed in succession. There 
were not enough men to man the vessels at first, 
but a draft contingent arrived from Ontario, and 
many frontiersmen volunteered, while soldiers 
were also sent on board. 

On the 1 8th the squadron sailed in quest of the 
enemy. After cruising about some time, the 
Ohio was sent down the lake. The other ships 
went into Put-in Bay. 

Captain Barclay, who had been at Amherst- 
burg, found that he was very short of provisions. 
Up to this time he had not cared to risk an en- 
gagement with the Americans, but now he felt 
compelled to do so. Therefore, he prepared his 
vessels for action, and put out of Amherstburg 
on the 9th of September. 

It was the next day that his squadron was dis- 
covered from the masthead of the Lawrence, just 
as the first streaks of dawn were appearing. The 
British were then coming up from the northwest. 
At once Perry's ships were all hustle and bustle, 
as it was realized that an engagement with the 
foe was almost sure to result. The light breeze 
that was blowing shifted to the northeast, thus 
giving the Americans the weather-gage. 

In the meantime, Captain Barclay lay-to in a 



PERRY'S VICTORY 145 

close column, heading toward the southwest. 
His ships, six in number, consisted of two men- 
of-war, two schooners, a brig and a sloop. These 
were named respectively, and armed, thus: the 
Detroit, nineteen guns; the Queen Charlotte, 
seventeen guns ; the Lady Prevost, thirteen guns ; 
the Hunter, ten guns; the Chippeway, one gun; 
the Little Belt, three guns. 

The American squadron, consisting of nine 
vessels, was made up of the brigs Lawrence, 
Niagara, and Caledonia; the schooners Ariel, 
Scorpion, Somers, Porcupine, and Tigress; and 
the sloop Trippe. Their armament stood: Law- 
rence, twenty guns; Niagara, twenty guns; Cal- 
edonia, three guns; Ariel, four guns; Scorpion, 
two guns ; Somers, two guns ; Porcupine, Tigress, 
Trippe, each one gun. 

In addition to having more ships than the en- 
emy, the Americans had close to double arma- 
ment strength, possessing less guns but guns of 
greater range. Against this advantage, the Brit- 
ish had an excess of perhaps fifty men in fighting 
trim. Therefore, it will be seen that if Commo- 
dore Perry had not come out a victor in the forth- 
coming battle, it would have been a national dis- 
grace. It is true that his men fought with a 
wonderful gallantry, but so did the men of Cap- 
tain Barclay. 

As the American squadron approached the 



146 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

foe, Perry's straggling line (the ships did not 
seem to keep well together) formed an angle of 
about fifteen degrees with the more compact line 
of the British. 

It was eleven twenty-five when the Detroit 
opened up the action by a shot from her long 
twenty-four, which fell short. Ten minutes 
later she fired a second time. This was better 
directed, and went crashing through the Law- 
rence. Almost immediately the Scorpion re- 
taliated with her long thirty-two, but missed. 
The Lawrence shifted her port bow-chaser, and 
now opened up herself with her long twelves, fol- 
lowed by her carronades, but the shot from the 
latter all fell short. 

The action now became general, although the 
rearmost American vessels were almost beyond 
range of their own guns, and quite out of reach 
of the guns of their antagonists. The ships in 
the van, however, were enough in numbers to 
match the enemy and keep him busy. 

Meantime the Lawrence, crippled considerably 
by the shot that had struck her, bore down slowly 
upon the enemy. It was twenty minutes before 
she succeeded in getting near enough to use her 
shorter range guns — the carronades. As she had 
approached she seemed to be the universal target 
for the foe, who directed their fire at her with 
gusto. Suffering a good deal, she was now able 



PERRY'S VICTORY 147 

to use effectively all of her own armament. Her 
shots went into the ranks of the British line with 
telling vigor and accuracy, so much so, in fact, 
that the British speedily showed more or less dis- 
tress. 

Helping the Lawrence were the Scorpion and 
the Ariel. These three American ships, throw- 
ing a combined weight of one hundred and four 
pounds, were pitted against the Chippeway and 
Detroit, throwing one hundred and twenty-three 
pounds at a broadside. At the same time the 
Caledonia, the Niagara, and the Somcrs were en- 
gaging at long range the Hunter and the Queen 
Charlotte, while, also at long range, the remain- 
ing American craft were engaging the Prevost 
and the Little Belt. 

By twelve-thirty the Lazvrence had worked in 
to close quarters, and action was going on with 
the greatest fury between her and her antagon- 
ists within canister range. Through ignorance, 
the raw and inexperienced American gunners 
committed the same error that the British so often 
fell into on the ocean during the war — they over- 
loaded their carronades. In consequence, the 
carronade of the Scorpion kicked from its mount- 
ings in the middle of the action, and went tum- 
bling down the hatchway, while its shot scattered 
harmlessly against the hull of the Detroit. One 
of the Ariel's long twelves was also put out of 
commission by bursting. 



148 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

During this time Captain Barclay's crew on the 
Detroit fought with excellent skill and bravery. 
Their aim was good, although the ship's equip- 
ment was so deficient that they actually had to 
discharge their pieces by firing pistols at the 
touchholes, being without slowmatches. 

Meanwhile the Caledonia came up into better 
range; but the Niagara signified no such inten- 
tion, her commander, Captain Elliott, handling 
her wretchedly for the good of his compatriots, 
and keeping at a distance which prevented the 
effective use of his carronades on either his 
special antagonist, the Queen Charlotte, or the 
latter's sister ships. Yet he had managed thus 
far to use his long guns well enough to cause the 
Queen Charlotte some damage, among which was 
the loss of her gallant commander, Captain Fin- 
nis, and Mr. Stokes, her first-lieutenant. The 
command had been taken over by Provincial- 
Lieutenant Irvine who, perceiving that he could 
accomplish nothing in his present position, left 
off engagement with the diffident Niagara, passed 
the Hunter, and joined the attack on the Law- 
rence at close quarters. Thus was the Niagara, 
the best-manned of the American vessels, kept out 
of action by her captain's misconduct. 

At the end of the line, the fight went on at 
long range between the Somers, the Tigress, the 
Porcupine, and the Trippe, on the American side ; 



PERRY'S VICTORY 149 

and the Lady Prevost and the Little Belt, on the 
British side. Considering her short-range equip- 
ment the Lady Prevost put up a remarkably stout 
and admirable defense against the long guns of 
her American adversaries. Before long she was 
necessarily greatly shot up ; her commander, Lieu- 
tenant Buchan, had been dangerously wounded, 
and her acting first-lieutenant, Mr. Roulette, had 
also been seriously hurt. She began falling 
gradually to leeward. 

At the head of the line the fighting was fierce 
and bloody to an extraordinary degree. By now 
the Lawrence, Scorpion, Ariel, and Caledonia 
were opposed to the Detroit, the Chippeway, the 
Queen Charlotte, and the Hunter. Lying at very 
close quarters, the ships of both sides did great 
destruction to their opponents, and their crews 
performed with a rare courage. Altogether it 
seemed quite an equal contest, the Americans be- 
ing superior in weight of broadside metal, but 
inferior in men. However, the Lawrence had 
received such damage in coming into the fight, 
that weighing her condition, the odds were some- 
what against Commodore Perry. 

As the men fought on, the heaviest fire on each 
side seemed to be concentrated upon the larger 
opposite vessels. In consequence the Queen 
Charlotte was now almost disabled, and the De- 
troit was battered and cut up in a fashion to 



150 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

greatly distress her. Indeed, her first-lieutenant 
had fallen, mortally stricken, while Captain Bar- 
clay was so severely injured that he had to be 
carried from the deck, leaving the command to 
Lieutenant Inglis. 

But if matters had gone ill with the Detroit, on 
board the Lawrence affairs were even worse. 
Her decks showed evidence of the grimest sort 
of carnage. Out of one hundred and three men 
only nineteen remained unwounded. In her 
ward-room, used as a cockpit, and mostly above 
water, many of the wounded, in the hands of 
surgeons, were killed outright by random shots 
of the enemy which came hurtling through the 
thin wooden walls. Her first-lieutenant, Mr. 
Yarnall, was three times wounded, but kept the 
deck through all; the only other lieutenant on 
board, Mr. Brooks, was mortally wounded. 
Every brace was shot away ; only one usable mast 
remained; her hull was a gaping sieve above the 
waterline; by degrees her guns on the engaged 
side had been all dismounted. 

Perry, however, kept up the fight with praise- 
worthy zeal and unexampled bravery. As his 
crew on the Lawrence fell one by one, he called 
down through the skylight for a surgeon's as- 
sistant ; and this call was repeated and obeyed till 
no more assistants were able to answer. Then 
he shouted into the ward-room: "Can any of 



PERRY'S VICTORY 151 

the wounded pull a rope?" and three or four of 
them crawled up on deck to lend a feeble hand in 
placing the last guns. 

It was the Commodore himself who, assisted 
by the purser and chaplain, aimed and fired the 
final shot. With steady hand and the utmost 
coolness he sent his charge whistling toward the 
Detroit, and had the satisfaction of seeing a por- 
tion of her rail and foremast go flying into splint- 
ers. 

Most commanders now would have struck their 
colors and permitted the enemy to take the crew 
prisoners. But not so Perry. Instead, the Com- 
modore leaped into a rowboat with his brother 
and four seamen, taking his flag with him. 
Whatever happened, he had made up his mind 
that the British should never have a chance to 
gloat over this emblem, — to handle its folds, and 
say when they got back to England, "This is one 
of the flags we took from the impertinent Ameri- 
cans." 

A quarter of a mile to windward Perry's 
searching eye had already noted the Niagara — 
the Niagara, fresh, strong, still able to put up a 
good fight. Now, standing proudly in the stern 
of the small boat, bareheaded, with the beloved 
flag flying defiantly from the bow, he ordered his 
men to pull hard for the Niagara. 

It was two-thirty when Perry arrived safely on 



152 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

board the Niagara. To this he transferred his 
flag, took command, and sent its former com- 
mander, Elliott, back in the rowboat to order up 
the three schooners. Within fifteen minutes the 
latter had come up, and Perry bore down to break 
Captain Barclay's line. 

The British ships had fought themselves to a 
standstill. The Lady Prevost was crippled and 
sagged to leeward, though ahead of the others. 
The Detroit and the Queen Charlotte were so dis- 
abled that they could not offer resistance against 
fresh combatants. 

As the Niagara stood down, firing her port 
guns into the Chippeway, the Little Belt, and the 
Lady Prevost, and her starboard guns into the 
Detroit, the Queen Charlotte, and the Hunter, 
she had everything her own way. Raked ter- 
ribly by her fire, the Detroit and the Charlotte 
tried to move off, but ran afoul of one another 
with their rigging shot to shreds. 

Then the Niagara luffed smartly athwart their 
bows, within half pistol-shot, maintaining a ter- 
rific discharge of great guns and musketry. On 
the other side the British tangled ships were al- 
most as disastrously swept by the Caledonia and 
the schooners, which were so close that some of 
their grape-shot, passing over the foe, rattled 
against Perry's spars and braces. 

Caught as he was between two fires, there was 



PERRY'S VICTORY 153 

nothing for Captain Barclay to do but strike his 
colors, which he did at three o'clock. The Chip- 
pezvay and the Little ] Belt, seeing the Detroit fall, 
did their best to escape, hut were overtaken and 
brought to respectively by the Trippe and the 
Scorpion. The commander of the latter, Cap- 
tain Stephen Champlin, fired the last shot, as he 
did the first, of the battle. 

In its material results, as well as in its moral 
effects, Perry's victory on Lake Erie was most 
important. It gave the Americans complete 
command of all the upper Great Lakes, and pre- 
vented continued fears of invasion from that 
quarter. It also gave the British a greater re- 
spect for American naval ability, and surely did 
much to increase self-confidence in the nation. 



VII 

THE "CONSTITUTION" AND THE 
"GUERRIERE" 

The queenly ship ! brave hearts had striven, 

And true ones died with her! 
We saw her mighty cable riven 

Like floating gossamer; 
We saw her proud flag struck that morn, 

A star once o'er the seas — 
Her anchor gone, her deck uptorn — 

And sadder things than these! 

— Hemans. 



The Constitution and the Guerriere 

AN EXCITING CHASE 

The first cruise of the United States navy in 
the War of 1812 was destined to be a disappoint- 
ment to all concerned. Commodore Rodgers, 
sent out with six men-of-war on June 21, 1812, 
three days after the declaration of hostilities, 
finally had returned to Boston harbor, after a 
seventy-day fruitless hunt for the British Ja- 
maica squadron, with one letter-of-marque, seven 
merchantmen, and one recaptured American 
ship. To add to the humiliation, an engagement 
had taken place with the British ship 'Belvidera, 
of thirty-six guns, and she had very adroitly 
slipped away. 

After her lucky escape the Belvidera made her 
way to Halifax, the chief naval station of Great 
Britain on the American coast. Her report was 
the first news to reach the British of the declara- 
tion of war by America, for in those days news 
traveled slowly. 

Thoroughly alarmed, the English were quick 
to act ; and in a few days a squadron left Halifax 
in search of Commodore Rodgers. The force 

157 



158 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

thus hurriedly gathered was quite formidable. 
It consisted of: The Africa, sixty-four guns; 
the Shannon, thirty-eight; the Guerriere, thirty- 
eight; the Belvidera, thirty-six, and the Molus, 
thirty-two. It was the intention of the squadron 
to chastise the headstrong Americans for their 
attempt to dispute with Great Britain her proud 
mastery of the seas. 

During the early part of July this force made 
its appearance off New York, and quickly effected 
captures enough to convince the American mer- 
chantmen that a season in port was preferable to 
the dangers of trading on the ocean in war time. 
The squadron also overhauled the American brig 
Nautilus, thereby gaining the distinction of tak- 
ing the first war-vessel of the war. But what the 
British ached for was to meet enemy craft of 
more importance than merchantmen and four- 
teen-gun brigs. Therefore, they must have been 
much pleased when, some days later, the United 
States frigate Constitution hove in sight under 
circumstances which seemed to promise her an 
easy prey for the five British warships. 

It was on the 17th of July that the Constitu- 
tion, after receiving a new crew at Annapolis, 
was standing northward under easy sail, bound 
for New York. Along about noon, the lookout 
reported four sails on the horizon ; and one hour 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 159 

later a fifth sail was seen bearing up a few points 
to the eastward. 

A careful scrutiny of the strangers convinced 
Captain Isaac Hull, the valiant commander, then 
thirty-seven years old, that they were men-of- 
war, although their nationality could not be de- 
termined. Nor was he able to make out their 
identity when night fell; while they were closer, 
they seemed not to be approaching him directly. 
Uneasy, and bent upon knowing just whom they 
were before darkness prevented, Hull now set 
signals which put the question plainly. But al- 
though the distant ships must have seen and read 
these, they made no reply. Then the night closed 
in in earnest and they were blotted from view. 

When day broke, to his chagrin Hull found 
himself fairly surrounded by British frigates. 
Not only were there the original five British men- 
of-war which had left Halifax, but there was the 
captured Nautilus with her guns turned against 
the representative of her own nation, and a cap- 
tured American schooner which had likewise 
been pressed into service. Clearly the Constitu- 
tion was outnumbered, and in a bad predicament. 
Captain Hull saw that the only way he could save 
her was to take to flight. 

Flight it was then. The events of that three 
days' chase are told with great detail in the log- 



160 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

book of the Constitution. To this record, many 
of the officers and crew have later added interest- 
ing and illuminating sidelights. 

In referring to the early stages of the chase, 
British historians themselves freely admit that 
the Constitution, in taking advantage of the sud- 
den lulls and gusts of the wind, showed far better 
seamanship and command than England's own 
vessels. Later on the frustrated foe called in 
all their small boats, and when the American frig- 
ate had vanished from view, went about for some 
days picking up such of her ships as had drifted 
widely apart. 

To the delight of the jackies aboard the Con- 
stitution, the morning of the second day brought 
a light breeze over the ruffled waters which prom- 
ised to hold. It really did keep fairly steady for 
a few hours, during which time she gained on 
her pursuers sufficiently to put her in the lead 
close to five miles. Then the breeze died out very 
tantalizingly, and the calm again held them in 
its grip, calling for the sweeps and small boats 
and kedge. 

On the gun-deck, about the carriages of the 
great cannon which were now useless, lay such 
of the crew as were not assigned to duty in the 
boats or at the capstan. Wearied with the con- 
stant strain, they fell asleep as soon as relieved 
from active duty; although they knew that from 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 161 

that slumber they might be awakened in the midst 
of yelling comrades, the clash of steel, and the 
roar of guns. 

Ever alert for any sign of a coming breeze, 
Captain Hull presently saw on the water far to 
windward that rippling appearance that always 
betokens the presence of a coming puff. He de- 
termined to utilize this in such a way that the 
British themselves would gain nothing by it. 
Clouds, too, began to appear to windward, prom- 
ising a squall of uncertain proportions, while in 
a short time sheets of gray, which the experi- 
enced sea-dog knows to be rain, could be seen 
driving toward them. 

With the greatest ostentation, the Constitution 
was made ready as if she expected a severe gale. 
The enemy could see the nimble American jackies 
taking in sail and furling all the lighter canvas. 
They could also see the clouds and rain. There 
was no doubt about it; a bad squall was coming. 

Immediately all was activity in the tops of the 
British frigates. Reefs were rapidly taken in 
the larger sails, some of which were even close- 
furled. Knowing the peril of being caught in a 
storm too close together, the British warships 
steered well apart; the course was forgotten in 
the effort of every shipmaster to meet the brunt 
of ill weather as best he could. 

Before these preparations had been completed 



162 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

the rain had reached the Constitution, and she 
became enveloped in a heavy shower which so 
hid her from view of the enemy that her outline 
was all but lost to the British. For this reason 
the foe was not aware that, in the midst of the 
deluge of rain, the American jackies were tear- 
ing around, rapidly taking out the reefs they had 
run a short time before, and shaking out the 
sail to almost full spread. 

Then, with the uprising wind filling her canvas 
into beautiful arcs, the Constitution sprang for- 
ward like a hound after a rabbit, headed for 
Boston harbor, the seas dashing high against her 
sharp bow and at times wetting the fore deck. 

After traveling thus through the storm, which 
lasted upwards of an hour, the thunder-clouds 
passed by, and with them went the rain to wind- 
ward. But, to the joy of the American sailors, 
the wind still held good, and their ship continued 
to drive well. 

As the gray curtain of rain swept farther and 
farther away, the eyes of the jackies followed it 
with increasing intentness and exultation. As 
more and more blue water was disclosed in the 
direction of the British, without showing a ship, 
many a man said to his neighbor with a chuckle, 
"Where are they?" 

At last "they" appeared. So far were the 
British left behind that they were now practi- 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 163 

cally out of the chase. Two of them were ac- 
tually hull-down, while one was a mere speck 
against the horizon-line. Blanketed by the 
storm they had not seen their shrewd fugitives 
getting away; had made no effort to throw their 
furled sail until the squall had passed; and now 
they must have been immensely crestfallen at the 
trick played upon them so cleverly. 

But though far behind, the foe must be given 
credit for not giving up the pursuit. They held 
valiantly after the American frigate, hoping 
against hope to yet overhaul her. 

It was a fruitless effort. Instead of gaining 
on the Constitution — which was really a swifter 
craft — the British ships fell farther and farther 
behind. Finally they had all disappeared from 
view, and the American frigate continued on her 
way to Boston without mishap. 



AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 

"You say her name is the Guerriere?" 

"Yes; I have just recently been commissioned 

to her. She carries thirty-eight guns, and is as 

fast as a hound. A fine craft, Hull!" 

"Mayhap she is, Dacres; but you may just 

watch out for that ship of yours if I ever catch 

her in the Constitution!" 



1 64 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Both speakers were dressed in the uniform of 
naval officers. One — the taller — wore the Brit- 
ish insignia of a captain ; the other, the markings 
of an American captain. The Englishman now 
laughed good-naturedly. 

"If war should come, Hull, I hope two such 
friends as we may be spared the irony of meeting 
one another in conflict ; but if so, I am willing to 
bet a hundred pounds sterling that your Consti- 
tution will strike her colors to my Guerriere! 
What say?" 

"No," said Hull; "I'll bet no money on it, and 
could not use your English sterling anyhow. 
However, I will stake you a hat on the outcome 
in favor of the Constitution." 

"Done!" responded Dacres promptly; and the 
bet was made. 

This little banter ended a pleasant discussion 
indulged in at a social gathering in Philadelphia, 
while the vessels of the two officers of different 
nations were lying in the Delaware. Although 
even then the cloud of war hung threateningly 
over the edge of the horizon, Captain Hull, 
American, and Captain Dacres, Englishman, old 
friends, would not allow bitterness to creep into 
their hearts against each other. 

How little did either realize that they were 
very soon to be pitted against each other on two 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 165 

different occasions — one in a stern chase of many 
miles, when neither dreamed of the identity of 
the other — the other in a ferocious combat, each 
squarely set, each forgetting self and friend and 
thinking only of duty to country! Such bitter 
incidents are not uncommon to the demands of 
the Juggernaut of War. 

We have already seen, in the preceding chap- 
ter, the result of the first meeting of these two 
friends, now rivals. We shall now see how they 
finally met by accident and forever settled the 
question of which of their proudful ships was the 
better fighter. 

After her escape from the British fleet, the 
Constitution remained at Boston only a few days, 
and then set out on a cruise to the eastward along 
the New England coast. Bad luck seemed to fol- 
low her. Not a prize did she take until she 
reached a point off Cape Sable. Here she cap- 
tured two small English merchantmen, and forced 
an English sloop-of-war to relinquish an Ameri- 
can brig. Shortly afterward a Salem privateer 
was spoken, the captain of which informed Cap- 
tain Hull that he had seen a British frigate cruis- 
ing in the neighborhood. 

This was good news. If he could only come 
up with the foe warship the monotony of the 
cruise might be broken. Captain Hull straight- 



166 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

way set out to scour the sea in quest of the frig- 
ate. Never once did he dream that it was the 
Guerriere — the ship of his pre-war friend, Cap- 
tain Dacres — that he sought. 

It was not long before the search was ended. 
One morning there came a long-drawn hail of 
"Sail ho-o-o!" from the lookout aloft. The 
course of the Constitution was at once shaped 
toward the stranger, who was not yet visible from 
the deck. In half an hour she was made out to 
be a frigate. As she was seen to alter presently 
her own course, and bear toward the American 
vessel, it was assumed that she was either a friend 
or a very audacious foe. 

Without waiting longer, determined to be on 
the safe side, Captain Hull began operations for 
action. The top-gallant sails were furled, and 
the lighter spars lowered to the deck. The decks 
were cleared, and the guns uncovered. Through 
their glasses the officers could see the stranger 
making similar preparations; still it was uncer- 
tain that she was an enemy. 

By five o'clock in the afternoon the two ships 
were rapidly nearing, but were still too far off 
to accurately identify. The drums on the Amer- 
ican frigate beat to quarters. Then followed the 
rush of barefooted men along the deck, as they 
ran hastily and in perfect order to their various 
stations. As the roll of the drums died away, 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 167 

the shrill voices of the midshipmen rose, calling 
off the quarter-bills, answered by the gruff re- 
sponses of the men at their posts. 

The Guerriere was not one bit behindhand in 
her preparations for a possible conflict. Al- 
though Captain Dacres had been unable to es- 
tablish the identity of the other vessel, he was 
too good a commander, like Hull, to take it for 
granted that she was a friend. At length he 
called to his side Captain William Orne, an 
American sailor whom he had taken prisoner 
with Orne's vessel some days before. Handing 
the American his glass, Captain Dacres said : 

"Captain Orne, what do you think of that ves- 
sel? Is she friend or foe to me?" 

Taking the spyglass Orne inspected the distant 
frigate carefully. He saw by her peculiar sails 
and general appearance that she was without 
doubt an American vessel. Being too honest to 
deceive the British captain, as he might have done 
to the advantage of his friends had he chosen, he 
answered candidly: 

"I think, sir, from her behavior, that she is 
an American frigate, but I do not recognize her." 

"He has a familiar look to me somehow," said 
Dacres, puzzled. "I can hardly credit him with 
being an American, however, for he comes down 
too boldly for such." 

"It is by his very boldness that I make certain 



168 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

he is an American," retorted the prisoner with 
great warmth. 

The British officer laughed good-humoredly. 
"So be it, sir," he said. "The better he behaves, 
the more credit we shall gain by taking him." 

As the two ships came down toward each other, 
the Guerriere backed her main topsail, and waited 
for her opponent to draw near enough to com- 
mence action — if action there was to be. As 
Dacres stood thus, he set the English flag at each 
masthead, and beat to quarters. 

And when the frigate came to within two or 
three miles, she took in all her light sails, reefed 
her topsails, and made final preparations for com- 
bat. Then she filled away and ran down to meet 
the Guerriere. 

On board the latter, Captain Dacres turned 
again to his American prisoner. "Captain 
Orne," he said politely, "as I suppose you do not 
wish to fight against your own countrymen, you 
are at liberty to retire below the water-line." 

The American officer bowed, filled with admi- 
ration for the gallant conduct of the British cap- 
tain, and started for the cockpit. With him went 
half a dozen American seamen whom Dacres had 
impressed into his crew, and whom he now 
chivalrously relieved from duty. Such fine con- 
duct is not often met in the home of an enemy. 

Now Captain Dacres saw the Stars-and-Stripes 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 169 

go up to the masthead of the frigate, and realized 
that his preparations had been well-timed. In- 
stantly he let go with his weather broadside. Ob- 
serving that his shot had fallen short, he wore the 
Guerriere around and tried her port broadside. 
Most of this went through the American's rig- 
ging, though two shots took effect in her hull. 

In response to this, the Constitution yawed a 
little. Bang! bang! went two of her bow guns. 
Once more the Guerriere fired her broadsides. 
In this manner the battle continued for about an 
hour, at long range, the American ship saving 
her ammunition and only responding to the heavy 
broadsides of her antagonist with occasional shot. 

As this ineffectual firing continued, the two 
vessels had been slowly drawing nearer and 
nearer, and the gunners on the Constitution be- 
came so restless under their inaction that they 
could hardly keep still. Captain Hull was pacing 
the quarter-deck with short, quick steps, trying 
to keep cool, but inwardly much excited. While 
thus engaged, Lieutenant Morris, the second in 
command, came up and asked his permission to 
let him respond with a broadside, declaring the 
gunners were becoming almost unruly in their 
impatience to do more firing. 

But Hull shook his head. Some minutes later 
the request was repeated. This time there was 
no response at all; Captain Hull seemed too en- 



170 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

grossed in pacing to and fro and watching the 
enemy to even hear the words or see his junior 
officer, who, non-plused, retired once more. 

When, a little later, the ships were within half- 
pistol-shot of one another, the smothered excite- 
ment in Hull's breast suddenly broke out. 

"Now, boys, pour it into them!" he shouted at 
the top of his lungs, gesticulating with such vio- 
lence that the tight breeches of his naval uniform 
split far down the side. 

Lieutenant Morris repeated his superior's or- 
ders, though in slightly modified terms. "Hull 
her, lads! Hull her!" he cried. 

And the crew, catching up his words and the 
significance of their double meaning, joyously 
yelled in chorus: "Hull her! Hull her! Hull 
her!" 

The guns had already been carefully aimed. 
Now, with slow-match, they were touched off. 
The effect of the first broadside was terrific. 
Captain Orne, deep in the cockpit of the Guer- 
riere, said afterward that he "heard a tremen- 
dous explosion from the opposing frigate. The 
effect of her shot seemed to make the Guerriere 
reel and tremble as though she had received the 
shock of an earthquake. Immediately after this 
I heard a tremendous shock on deck, and was told 
that the mizzen-mast was shot away. In a few 
moments the cockpit where I was was filled with 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 171 

wounded men. I did not like to see them suffer, 
but I was overjoyed that the American was get- 
ting in such good work." 

But in the seclusion of the cockpit, this Ameri- 
can prisoner could gain little idea of the work of 
destruction going on above. He could not see 
the gunners on the two ships, their bare breasts 
covered with stains of powder and rivulets of 
blood and sweat, pulling fiercely at the gun-tackle 
and wielding rammers with frantic energy. He 
could not see the British ship's mizzen-mast go 
crashing and hurtling from its ragged stump into 
the sea, carrying with it some of the topmen and 
throwing others far out into the churning waters, 
choked with freshly-made debris. He could not 
see the great, ragged breach torn in the Guer- 
riere' s quarter by the falling mast, nor observe 
the frantic energy with which the British sailors 
went to work to clear away the wreckage on deck. 

While this was going on the Constitution drew 
slowly ahead, pouring in several other destructive 
broadsides. Then she luffed until she lay right 
athwart the enemy's bow. This brought the 
bowsprit of the Guerriere across the quarter- 
deck of the American, where it was soon fouled 
in the mizzen-rigging of the latter. 

High and clear on the evening air now sounded 
the notes of two bugles. One came from the 
Constitution, the other from the Guerriere. 



172 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Each was calling up its crew of boarders. Like 
modern rival football gladiators, ready for the 
game, they responded to the signal. But instead 
of a trophy of goals to lead them to victory, in 
this case it was to be a trophy of dead men. Now 
see them come rushing, — boarding-caps on head, 
cutlass in one hand, cocked pistol in the other, — 
to the near-side of their respective vessels ! 

But a heavy sea is rolling and tossing the two 
frigates; to board either seems almost impos- 
sible. As Captain Dacres observes this he re- 
calls his men back to the guns. 

Even though each party is forced to stick to 
its own ship, so close are they that all weapons 
except the cutlasses can be used. From the tops 
comes a steady rain of leaden missiles down upon 
the heads of the adversary, one of which slightly 
wounds Captain Dacres. The protruding muz- 
zles of the big guns often touch the near side of 
the rival ship; when they are drawn in for re- 
loading, after their deep-toned thunder, the sail- 
ors quickly thrust their muskets through the 
ports. The rattle of small arms is almost inces- 
sant, sounding like millions of stones being cast 
against a suspended piece of sheetiron; muskets 
and pistols blend together in their reports. And 
interspersed throughout it all are the ever-pres- 
ent human tones — sometimes in peremptory com- 
mand, sometimes in anger, sometimes in re- 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 173 

proach, sometimes in pain, sometimes in exulta- 
tion, sometimes in sacrificial glorification, some- 
times in weakened gasps — seldom in fear. 

In the midst of the turmoil of heroic tragedy 
there suddenly shrills high above all other noises 
a new human cry— a cry of portentous dread: 
"Fire! Fire! Fire!" 

And, for a moment ceasing their fighting, the 
startled jackies aboard the Constitution see one 
of their own men pointing excitedly to the cabin, 
from the windows of which billows of smoke are 
rolling. The fire has been set by the flash of the 
enemy's gun, so close are the ships. By the hard- 
est kind of exertions a detail of men extinguish 
the threatened conflagration. The relaxed face 
of every man shows the relief that is felt as 
the fighting is resumed with renewed doggedness. 
A few moments later, a grim American gunner 
manages to disable the enemy gun that has done 
the mischief. A cheer goes up from those near 
him ; those in other quarters are too busy even to 
note the swelling cry. 

Lieutenant Morris, with his own hands, is try- 
ing to lash the two heaving ships together. Giv- 
ing up the attempt, he leaps to the tafirail and 
calls upon his men to follow him aboard the foe. 
Before the last syllable dies on his lips, Lieuten- 
ant Bush of the marines, and Mr. Alwyn, are by 
his side. Crash-h-h! goes a volley of British 



174 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

musketry, aimed directly at the intrepid three. 
All pitch backward — Bush dead, Morris and 
Alwyn badly wounded. 

Now comes a ripping, crunching, rending of 
wood as the sea tosses the fouled ships and their 
entangled rigging tears asunder. They slowly 
drift apart, free once more. The heavy smoke 
of the guns rolls in between, shielding both for a 
few minutes. As it rises again, the Constitu- 
tion's big guns roar out once more ; a great cheer 
arises from her decks as the Guerriere's fore- 
mast is vitally fractured, topples, hangs uncer- 
tainly for an instant, then with a groan almost 
human, crashes down, carrying with it the main- 
mast and a score of unfortunate topmen. 

The shattered British ship now lies a shapeless 
mass, tossing unguided upon the waves. She 
has lost all her backbone. Even her ensign flut- 
ters from a slivered stump. 

Drawing away and firing continually and re- 
lentlessly with her stern guns, the Constitution 
presently maneuvers herself into a good raking 
position. As she is on the point of letting go 
her broadside, the colors on the enemy ship are 
hauled down. 

What a cheer goes up from the Americans! — 
what a hoarse, tired, happy, boisterous cheer ! 

Captain Hull's rugged face bears a queer look. 
In his features you read a strange mixture — 



CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE 175 

triumph and pain ; triumph for his beloved coun- 
try, pain for his dear adversary. He cannot 
face him right now. Therefore, he calls Lieu- 
tenant Read and sends him aboard the Guerriere. 

"Captain Hull presents his compliments, sir, 
and wishes to know if you have really struck 
your flag," states Read. 

Captain Dacres's face is a study. Then he re- 
sponds dryly, with a significant glance at the shat- 
tered masts and bloody deck of his ship: "Well, 
I don't know. Our mizzen-mast is gone, our 
main-mast is gone, our men are gone — and I 
think, on the whole, you may say that we have 
struck our colors." 

After looking about the ship, which he found 
in a fearful condition, with scores of killed and 
wounded, untackled guns surging from side to 
side, and some petty officers and seamen even in- 
toxicated, Lieutenant Read returned to the Brit- 
ish captain. 

"Would you like the assistance of a surgeon, 
sir, or a surgeon's mate, in caring for your 
wounded?" 

Dacres looked surprised, and responded: 

"I should suppose you had on board your own 
ship business enough for all your medical offi- 
cers." 

"Sir," answered Read, "we have only seven 
wounded, and they have been dressed long ago!" 



i/6 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Captain Dacres was astounded, as well he 
might be; for on the decks of his own ship lay 
twenty-three dead or mortally wounded men, 
while in the cockpit the surgeons were doing their 
best to alleviate the sufferings of fifty-six others. 

The Americans now set to work to remove the 
prisoners from the Guerriere, which was evi- 
dently in a sinking condition. Needless to say, 
they were pleased to find that in the capture they 
had given freedom to some of their own country- 
men — Captain Orne in particular. 

In the first boat-load from the British ship 
came its sad commander, Captain Dacres, who 
was politely shown into Captain Hull's cabin. 
Unclasping his sword, the conquered British of- 
ficer extended it silently and formally to his old- 
time friend. 

But Captain Hull, with trembling lip, shoved 
it gently back. "No, no, Captain," said he; 
"I'll not take a sword from one who knows how 
to handle it so courageously, — but" — into his eyes 
came a roguish look, — "but, if you don't mind I 
will now trouble you for that hat!" 

For a moment a shade of perplexity passed over 
the brow of the humbled British captain; then he 
recollected the wager of a year or two back, there 
in Philadelphia, and sheathing his formality with 
his sword, he shook hands laughingly but patheti- 
cally with his former comrade. 



VIII 

THE SHIP THAT STRANGELY 
DISAPPEARED 

What cruel fate is this, 
That one so gallant, a master of the seas, 
Fearing naught, sailing where she please, 
Should vanish in the dark of night, 
And never leave a sign in sight — 
No bit of wreckage, no floating mast 
To show which way she might have pass'd ? 

— Bellwright. 



The Ship That Strangely Disappeared 

For as much as one hundred and fifty years 
before the War of 1812 England had been a vir- 
tual "mistress of the seas." The war-ships of 
no nation were able to compete successfully 
against those of Great Britain, although in that 
time practically every European power had 
matched its naval craft against her. And when, 
in 181 2, the unknown navy of the new nation 
growing up across the Atlantic did what no old 
navy had ever been able to do, not only the Eng- 
lish but the people of Continental Europe opened 
their eyes wide in wonder, and the former were 
greatly humiliated and aroused. 

So it was the Americans who first proved to 
the world that the English could be beaten at 
their own favorite game. It was the Americans 
who did what the huge fleets of France, Spain, 
and Holland had failed to do. And — greatest 
credit of all — they did it without large fleets and 
squadrons, with a mere handful of frigates and 
sloops, hammered together at short notice, and 
manned and equipped with crude material. But 
untrained as they were, those seamen were full 

179 



180 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

of American spirit and initiative — so full of it 
that their deeds with solitary ships have been 
honored with as much attention by modern writ- 
ers of naval warfare in the Old World as be- 
stowed upon the actions of whole fleets in other 
wars. 

Among the famous ships of the Americans in 
this war were two which carried the name of 
Wasp. The first one built was an eighteen-gun 
sloop which at the very outset of hostilities cap- 
tured a British brig of twenty guns, but un- 
fortunately she was herself taken a little later 
on by an enemy seventy-four. In memory of 
her the Americans gave the same name to a new 
sloop which they had been building. These 
sloops-of-war were very stoutly made, and their 
swiftness compared favorably with any European 
ships of their class, for the American shipwrights 
were already as famous as the American gunners 
and seamen. 

The new Wasp, like most of her sister ships 
of sloop build, carried twenty-two guns. She 
was ship-rigged, and had a crew of one hundred 
and seventy men. Twenty of her guns were car- 
ronades, shooting thirty-two pound projectiles, 
and intended for short range. Her remaining 
two guns were bow-chasers, termed "Long 
Toms," which had far stronger carrying power. 

It was in 1814, during the last year of the war, 



THE SHIP THAT DISAPPEARED 181 

that the Wasp sailed from the United States to 
prey on the navy and commerce of Great Britain. 
For commander she had a gallant South Carolin- 
ian named Captain Johnson Blakeley. Her crew 
were nearly all native Americans, being an ex- 
ceptionally fine set of men, quick to act, and afraid 
of nothing above or below the sun except the 
wrath of God. Instead of staying near the 
American coastline, or sailing the high seas for 
her. prizes, the Wasp at once boldly turned her 
nose toward the English Channel, bent upon 
carrying the war to the very doors of the enemy, 
as John Paul Jones had done thirty-seven years 
before. 

By this time the British fleets had obtained 
such complete supremacy over European waters 
that the ships of the French, who were friendly 
with the United States, were almost completely 
bottled up, and could not get out to render the 
aid to America they would so much have liked to. 
Night and day, in calm, squall, and tempest, 
these great blockading squadrons of England 
keep watch upon the rival war-ships of the 
French emperor, as a cat crouches and awaits 
the first movement of the little mouse for a quick 
pounce. Other British ships of war patrolled 
the seas unchecked, ready to pick up the first rash 
French vessel or American ship they could see. 

In spite of all this vigilance of the enemy he 



182 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

found he could not close up all the gates into the 
seas, nor frighten those he watched into tamely 
staying off the waters. A few French privateers 
slipped out now and then. The bolder and more 
formidable American privateersmen drove hither 
and thither across the ocean in their swift craft, 
laughing at the enemy's frantic efforts to catch 
them, and harassing the English commerce with- 
out mercy. 

Of these American privateers the Wasp was 
one of the most audacious. She proceeded at 
once, upon crossing the Atlantic, to cruise boldly 
in the English Channel and off the coasts of Eng- 
land, France, and Spain. Here, in the very teeth 
of British naval power, threatened by enemy 
fleets convoying detachments of troops for Wel- 
lington's Peninsular army, menaced by enemy 
squadrons guarding British merchantmen, im- 
periled by divers foe ships-of-the-line, out looking 
for stray privateers like herself, the Wasp kept 
on. Many was the time that her escape from 
capture was narrow ; but by the splendid seaman- 
ship of her crew and the vigilance and skill of 
her commander, she kept on threading the danger- 
ous home waters of her adversary, as saucy and 
daring as you please. 

Before she had been long on the ground, one 
June morning found her giving chase to a couple 
of English merchantmen. In the midst of the 



THE SHIP THAT DISAPPEARED 183 

exciting pursuit, her lookout from the masthead 
reported a strange vessel of suspicious character 
bearing down fast from leeward. A little later 
the stranger was close enough for Captain 
Blakeley to see that she was a British brig-of-the- 
line. She was, in fact, the Reindeer, of eighteen 
guns and one hundred and twenty men, com- 
manded by Captain Manners of the Royal navy. 
At once the American captain decided to drop 
his pursuit of the merchantmen and engage the 
war-ship. 

The sky was a beautiful azure-blue; the air 
mild and still. The very lightest wind stirred 
across the wide expanse of sea. At one o'clock 
the Wasp's drum beat to quarters, and at once 
every man ran quickly to his post, while the sails 
were furled into fighting trim. 

The Reindeer's drum also beat to order, and 
she too made preparations for battle which could 
be plainly seen from the deck of the American 
vessel. On her forecastle she had rigged a light 
carronade, and as she now came down from as- 
tern of the Wasp, she fired this gun five times 
point-blank at the American sloop, some of the 
shots taking effect in the latter's hull but doing 
little damage. 

In answer, the Wasp now luffed slowly round, 
firinsf her heavv carronades as she bore. In a 
few moments the rival ships had closed; yard- 



184 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

arm to yard-arm they lay, almost in a mortal em- 
brace. Terrific was the thunder of the heavy 
guns of both. No sooner did a gun spit out its 
venom of hot lead than its grimy gunner pulled 
in its smoking muzzle, its equally grimy swabber 
swabbed it, and it was loaded and thrust through 
the port again for another merciless discharge of 
hate. Like demons these men worked at the 
breeches, while on the decks and the tops other 
men fired with pistols and muskets at every hu- 
man target presenting itself. 

As the vessels ground together the American 
sailors sprang to the bulwarks to make the union 
sure by throwing grapnels over the Reindeer. 
They were protected by their brother jackies be- 
low and aloft, who discharged a veritable shower 
of shot into the foe, many of whom made des- 
perate efforts to rush forward and frustrate the 
design by savage thrust of pike and bark of pistol 
and slash of cutlass. In this struggle Captain 
Manners himself was wounded. 

But a wound could not deter the brave British 
commander. At this juncture he gave his own 
men the order to gather for boarding. Imme- 
diately they came running up, many naked above 
the waist, their skin already streaked with sick- 
ening red in spots and blacked with powder 
smudges in others; cutlass gripped in one rough 
fist, pistol in the other. 



THE SHIP THAT DISAPPEARED 185 

However, the Americans were quick to see 
their new danger. Behind the bulwarks of the 
Wasp crouched the American pikemen, with set 
countenances and restless feet and hands ; behind 
them, drawn up on the deck, cutlassed and pis- 
toled, stood the sturdy, tanned marines of the 
new country ; at the right and left, on stations of 
elevated vantage where they could note every 
movement of the foe, were the cool blue-coated 
officers, swords in hand, ready to meet any 
emergency themselves. 

Now came Captain Manners's signal to his 
men of, "Boarders away!" 

Like a snapping bowstring the taut nerves of 
the men on both sides flew into action. The 
British sea-dogs began to tumble over the rail of 
the American ship — only to perish by shot or 
steel, to go down like weeds under the hoe of 
the husbandman. Still they persisted, brave 
men that they were. Desperately they stabbed 
with pike and cut arcs with their cutlasses. Fully 
as desperately did they pull trigger of pistol, and 
attempt to force their way well upon the Ameri- 
can deck. 

Seeing his men stagger and hesitate, on the 
very verge of rout, the dauntless Manners 
shouted encouragment and sprang to their head. 
Too late! Even while his arm was extended 
forward, indicating the goal, the bullet of an 



1 86 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

American sharpshooter in the foretop came un- 
erringly down and crushed through his skull. 

As Manners fell, his men became panic- 
stricken. They were quickly forced back to their 
own deck, and then came the order of Captain 
Blakeley himself to board. Over the bulwarks 
of the enemy ship they scrambled, shouting like 
men gone daft. Absolutely' irresistible was their 
advance. With wild cheers they swept the wreck 
of the British seamen before them, and in almost 
the time it takes to tell it the Reindeer was in 
their possession. 

Every officer on board the enemy craft had 
been killed, while at least two-thirds of her crew 
had been killed or wounded. That they had 
fought valiantly was shown by the fact that 
twenty-six Americans had suffered death or in- 
juries. 

Having no desire to return to home shores 
right away, and not wishing to be handicapped 
with a prize consort, the crew of the Wasp re- 
moved the British to their own vessel and then 
applied the torch to the Reindeer. 

After running into a friendly French port to 
refit, the Wasp once more put to sea in quest of 
new laurels. For some time she met no antagon- 
ist worthy of her timber; moreover, she had to 
exercise the utmost vigilance to escape capture. 

Late one September afternoon she found her- 



THE SHIP THAT DISAPPEARED 187 

self within striking distance of an isolated Brit- 
ish brig which belonged to a squadron whose 
other ships had become somewhat widely sepa- 
rated in a recent storm. Although the brig's 
sister ships were too close to promise a successful 
attack on her in broad daylight, Captain Blakeley 
thought he stood some chance under cover of 
darkness. 

Accordingly, keeping the Wasp far behind, 
where her identity was unlikely even to be sus- 
pected, he trailed after the Avon, which carried 
eighteen guns and was in some respects a more 
powerful craft than the American vessel. Dur- 
ing the night he came up with the pursued after 
following his lights for some time, and bearing 
very close fired a heavy broadside into the Avon, 
whose astonished captain had taken him for one 
of the other British ships. 

As soon as she could do so the Avon turned her 
own guns upon her attacker, while sailors set 
lamp signals high on her fore-mast calling to her 
compatriots for aid. Plunging and wallowing 
in the sea, which was running quite high, both 
sides found the aiming difficult. But the firing 
was fast and furious, nevertheless. 

The British marksmanship was very bad; few 
hits were scored. On the other hand, the Ameri- 
cans displayed their customary superiority at 
this game, and before long with such effect that 



1 88 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

the hull of the British brig was in deplorable 
condition. Noting that she was sinking, her 
commander struck his flag and cried for quarter. 
Fifty of his men had been laid low, while only- 
three Americans had sustained wounds. 

Before the Wasp could take possession of her 
prize two British ships which had seen the signals 
of their distressed friend, or heard the firing, un- 
expectedly put in an appearance. Extinguishing 
his own lights, Captain Blakeley adroitly sneaked 
away in the darkness, with one enemy shot chas- 
ing after him. Had only one foe ship come to 
the rescue of the Avon he would promptly have 
attacked it. With the enemy all around him, his 
feat of running in and destroying one of their 
ships was remarkably bold and wonderful in its 
accomplishment ; he was too sagacious a seaman 
to spoil his good work now by remaining to en- 
gage insurmountable odds. 

After this the Wasp took other prizes. Once 
she came across a convoy of British ships carry- 
ing arms and munitions of war to Wellington's 
army, under the protection of a big two-decker 
war-ship. Hanging on the outskirts of this con- 
voy, like a hawk over a barnyard, the swift sloop 
watched her chance and finally swooped down 
upon one of the transports and destroyed it, be- 
fore the mothering ship could bring her guns to 
bear. 



THE SHIP THAT DISAPPEARED 189 

This was the last known feat ever performed 
by the gallant little Wasp. Her country never 
again heard from her; Europe never heard from 
her. Where had she gone? The seas were 
scoured for her by friend and foe alike; but the 
waters seemed to have opened up, and swal- 
lowed the daring sloop and her daring crew, leav- 
ing no human survivor, not even an identifying 
splinter of wood, scrap of metal, or fragment of 
uniform. And nothing more is known about her 
to this day. 



IX 

THE "MONITOR" AND THE 
"MERRIMAC" 

We are not idle, but send her straight 

Defiance back in a full broadside! 
As hail rebounds from a roof of slate, 
Rebounds our heavier hail 
From each iron scale 
Of the monster's hide. 

— Longfellow. 



The Monitor and the Merrimac 

THE "QUAKER MEETIN'-HOUSE FLOATING DOWN 
THE BAY" 

During the Civil War, in our own country, the 
Union forces retreated from Norfolk and left the 
Navy- Yard a mass of flames. Among the Con- 
federate craft destroyed at this time was the fine 
steam frigate Merrimac, of forty guns, which was 
scuttled and sunk in the channel. 

Three or four months after the occupation of 
the Norfolk Navy- Yard by the Confederates, 
Lieutenant George M. Brooke was inspired with 
the idea of raising the Merrimac and converting 
her into a new and very formidable type of war 
vessel. He carefully worked out his plans, and 
submitted them to the Confederate government. 
They were approved, and orders immediately 
given for beginning the work of redemption. 

As originally built the Merrimac had no su- 
perior in the United States waters. Her solid 
oak sides rose high above the water, and were 
pierced by a long row of gaping port-holes. Her 
masts were tall and imposing, with long yard- 
arms; and when her sails were all set they pre- 

193 



194 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

sented such a great expanse of canvas that her 
hull, big as it was, looked small and insignificant. 

This splendid ship was accordingly raised, 
worked into dry-dock, and all her rigging re- 
moved, leaving only the massive hull. Then both 
ends, for a distance of seventy feet, were decked 
over. The gap between, one hundred and 
seventy feet long, was covered with a slanting 
roof which extended about seven feet above the 
gun-deck. This was of pitch pine and oak, 
twenty-four inches thick, and was finally covered 
with a shield of two-inch iron plates. The up- 
per part of the roof, which was flat, was railed 
in, making a kind of promenade deck. The gun- 
deck was completely inclosed by this heavy wall 
of wood and iron, nothing appearing above it but 
a short smokestack and two flag-staffs. In the 
chamber formed by the roof were mounted ten 
guns, the bow and stern pieces being of seven- 
inch caliber — fairly powerful weapons in that 
day. 

A queer feature of the craft — one not discov- 
ered until she was launched — was that the weight 
of the iron plating and heavy guns sank her so 
deeply in the water that the low decks forward 
and aft of the gun-room were always under water. 
This practically submerged her hull entirely, giv- 
ing her a very strange appearance. Indeed, the 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 195 

old salt on the Cumberland, who was the first 
Federal seaman to sight her, gravely reported 
her thus to his superior officer, "Quaker meetin'- 
house floating down the bay, sir." 

When this naval monster was completed she 
was christened the Virginia, but somehow the 
public did not take kindly to the new appellation, 
and ever after she was known by the name of the 
old frigate from which she had come into being. 
And thus shall I speak of her. 

The new Merrimac received as commander 
Commodore Franklin Buchanan, an ex-Union of- 
ficer of ability and daring. His junior officers 
were also very capable men; but his crew was 
far from as efficient as he would have liked. 
While there were a few good sailors, most of 
them knew nothing about seamanship, having 
been picked out of the Confederate army ranks. 
There was no chance to drill these men, for up 
to the very hour of sailing to do battle, the ship 
was crowded with workmen getting her ready for 
her task of breaking the Yankee blockade. 
When she did finally leave her berth, she was an 
untried ship, not a gun had been fired, and not a 
revolution of her engines had been made in open 
waters since their resurrection, slimy and rusty, 
from the bottom of the channel. 

On Saturday, the 8th of March, 1862— the 



196 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

same day that Fremont fought the battle of Pea 
Ridge, — the strange iron leviathan steamed into 
the mouth of the James River from Norfolk. 
She was accompanied by four small Confederate 
gunboats — the Yorktown, the Beaufort, the 
Jamestown, and the Teaser. Boldly and calmly 
the Merrimac headed straight for the Federal 
blockading fleet, which she could plainly make 
out off Newport News in Hampton Roads. 

It was a fine, mild morning, such as is common 
in southern Virginia during the early spring. 
On board the Union frigates Cumberland and 
Congress, which were doing guard-duty and an- 
chored a half-mile off shore, every sailor was en- 
joying the weather and pleasing himself with the 
prospect of going North in a day or two at the 
farthest and being relieved of the monotony of 
blockading at anchor. Some were pacing the 
poop, gazing idly off at the blue waters; others 
were lounging on deck watching the ever-present 
sea-gulls fighting for remnants of victuals which 
the galley-boy had just thrown over the rail; still 
others leaned against the capstan and sat on coils 
of rope, swapping yarns with one another. 

One bell had struck some time, and the quarter- 
master on watch was expecting to hear the tolling 
off of another division of the day when his atten- 
tion was drawn to an unusual appearance against 
the fringe of woods away over in the Norfolk 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 197 

channel. After gazing intently for several min- 
utes, he approached the officer of the deck, and 
presenting him the glass, said, "I believe that 
pesky contraption of the Johnny Rebs is a-comin' 
down at last, sir !" 

The fact of the matter is, the Confederates had 
not been working long on the new craft before 
word of their operations had reached the Fed- 
erals. While the news was the subject of a good 
deal of scoffing, nevertheless the Union fleet had 
been curiously watching for her appearance for 
some time, not without some vague uneasiness at 
that. 

So now the officer of the deck was quick to 
seize the quarter-master's glass and level it across 
the waters. Sure enough! There was a huge 
black roof, with a short smokestack emerging 
from it, creeping down toward Sewall's Point. 
Three or four satellites, in the shape of small 
gunboats, clustered near her. There was a great 
stir among the Union shipping when the strang- 
ers finally showed themselves clear of the point. 
But they turned up into the James River channel 
instead of down toward the fort, and approached 
the anchorage of the Cumberland and Congress 
with great deliberation. 

As soon as it was apparent that the strange 
creature intended to make an attack on them, the 
drums of both vessels beat to quarters, and as 



198 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

quickly as possible everything was put in ship- 
shape order for fighting. 

The Merrimac was such a grotesque, clumsy- 
looking craft that the majority of the sailors 
thought she would be speedily destroyed. Even 
most of the officers on the Cumberland and 
Congress had little misgivings on that score, now 
that they saw her coming leisurely toward them. 
So they made their preparations to fight gayly, 
fully believing in their ability to gain the mastery, 
as up to that time Northern arms had easily main- 
tained the supremacy at sea. 

By a little after four bells, or two o'clock, the 
iron-clad ship was close enough for a shot, and 
the Cumberland, which stood nearest, tried her 
with a solid shot from one of their stern guns. 
To the unbounded surprise of the crew, who saw 
the shot strike fair against the Merrimac 's slop- 
ing casejnent, the ball slid off like a drop of water 
on a duck's back. 

Before another shot was forthcoming, the Mer- 
rimac threw aside the screen from one of her for- 
ward ports, and answered with a charge of grape 
which killed and wounded quite a number of those 
on the Cumberland. Without pausing, she then 
began passing her adversary. As she did so the 
Cumberland fired a broadside into her at a dis- 
tance of less than two hundred yards. Like peas 
thrown from a tin shooter, these shot rattled 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 199 

harmlessly against her boiler-plate, and the men 
on the big ship opened their eyes still wider in 
surprise. 

Then surprise turned into consternation. 
The Merrimacs own broadside was suddenly let 
loose with terrible effect. One of the shells dis- 
mounted an eight-inch gun, bringing every mem- 
ber of its crew to the deck, while the slaughter 
of many of the other shells was nearly as fright- 
ful. Few were wounded, the fragments of the 
huge shells of the Confederate ironclad killing 
almost every man they touched. 

Meanwhile the grim monster which had caused 
all this bloodshed passed on up the stream. 
Thinking that perhaps they had damaged her 
more than outward appearances showed, and that 
she had received enough punishment and was 
about to make off, the survivors aboard the Cum- 
berland began to cheer. But, unhappy, deceived 
mortals, it was the last cheer that many of them 
ever gave. 

Standing up abreast of the bow of the Union 
ship, the Merrimac suddenly put her helm aport, 
and ran her sharp, submerged steel bow into the 
frigate. There was a sickening crunch of tim- 
bers, a heart-rending tearing and ripping. 
Then, reversing her engines, the powerful ram 
ran back a little, and once more came steaming 
forward upon her prey, paying not the slightest 



200 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

attention to the shots that were rained upon her 
armor. Again she struck amidships ; again there 
rose that depressing rending of wood as a great 
gap opened up in the side of the hapless Cumber- 
land. At the same time the Merrimac played her 
guns mercilessly upon the unprotected sailors of 
her enemy. 

Rapidly now the Cumberland went down. Her 1 
lower deck was soon awash. Yet her guns still 
huskily barked out defiance. Deeper she sank, 
and some of her redhot guns sizzled in the water 
that closed around them. The very last gun to 
be engulfed was fired while her mad gunner stood 
knee-deep in water. Then, with a moaning lurch 
almost human, the old frigate settled to the bot- 
tom, but not entirely into oblivion. For "a few 
feet of her top-masts rose above the waves, and 
there the Stars-and-Stripes still floated, victori- 
ous in death." 

It had taken about three-quarters of an hour 
for the formidable new monster of the sea to dis- 
patch the Cumberland in the summary manner 
shown. That vessel taken care of, she now 
turned her grim attention to the Congress. 

In the meantime this ship, seeing the fate of 
her sister vessel and not caring to share a like 
one, had set her topsails and jib, slipped her 
chains, and made a run for it. After her went 
many shots from the small gunboats which had 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 201 

accompanied the Merrimac, and which had been 
laying-to during the fight of their ugly consort, 
as if they knew she could amply take care of her- 
self and wanted to have the Congress left as des- 
sert. These shots killed and wounded a number 
on the fleeing craft. 

As she was running over the flats which make 
off from Newport News, the Congress was un- 
fortunate enough to ground in the shallow waters. 
She struggled in every way to release herself, 
but it was a hopeless task, for the tide was run- 
ning out and her buoyancy thereby constantly 
decreasing. As the waters continued to fall she 
keeled over, leaving only the two guns in the 
stern ports which could be used. 

Two large Union steam-frigates and a sailing- 
frigate had noted the peril of the Congress. 
Towed by tugs these now started up from Hamp- 
ton Roads to the assistance of the stranded ves- 
sel; but, before they had achieved half the dis- 
tance, they also ran aground. Undoubtedly it 
was fortunate for them that they did, as otherwise 
the chances are the dreadful Merrimac, which 
could not reach them in their present position, 
would have served them as she had served the 
luckless Cumberland. 

Having discovered the new position of her 
prospective prey, the iron leviathan now made 
leisurely toward the grounded ship. Taking up 



202 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

a position about one hundred and fifty yards as- 
tern of the Congress, she deliberately raked her 
with eighty-pound shell, while her consorts, the 
Yorktown, the Beaufort, the Jamestown, and the 
Teaser, assisted by throwing in their smaller 
charges. The acting-master and coast-pilot of 
the frigate fell, mortally wounded, along with 
many less important men. 

The Congress fought back desperately with 
her pitifully poor armament, using her stern guns 
so incessantly that they grew so hot the gunners 
dare not lay hand on their breeches. But in a 
little while even these two pieces were disabled, 
one having its muzzle knocked off by a direct hit 
from the Merrimac. Then rifles and carbines 
had to be depended upon wholly, their users mak- 
ing every effort, from deck and the tops, to pick 
off the enemy crew whenever the huge ports of 
the iron monster were seen to open for her guns 
to be thrust out and fired. 

The dry timbers of the doomed vessel now 
caught fire in three places almost simultaneously. 
In vain the crew fought these flames, while the 
enemy shot continued to rain in upon them. Only 
a handful could handle the pails and hose; the 
remainder of the crew lay stretched all about 
with pain-riven eyes and paralyzed limbs, or with 
closed eyes and clammy limbs that would never 
move again. 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 203 

Seeing the dreadfulness of the situation, the 
acting commander of the Congress ordered the 
flag to be struck. With wet eyes he stood with 
his back to it during this humiliating operation. 

At once the commander of the Merrimac sent 
a boat up to the surrendered craft, but when the 
officer in charge found that Federal soldiers were 
firing toward him and his crew from the shore, he 
refused to take off any of the wounded, and beat 
a hasty retreat to the ram. The ironclad then 
began to fire once more into the Congress in a 
most heartless manner, even though she flew a 
white flag. 

After ten or fifteen minutes of this, she ceased 
shooting and with her consorts proceeded down 
the channel, to bestow attention upon the fri- 
gate Minnesota which, as previously stated, was 
hard aground. But, owing to the shallow water, 
the ram could not reach her third prey, and 
with a few parting shots she and her sister 
ships made their way up the Norfolk Channel, 
satisfied to wait till another sunrise before at- 
tacking other ships of the Federal blockaders. 

It was found that only twenty-one of her crew 
had been wounded, most of these having been 
struck by the rifle-fire of the soldiers on shore 
while alongside the surrendered Congress, and 
not a single man had been killed. Not an atom 
of damage had been done to the interior of the 



204 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

craft, but nothing outside seemed to have es- 
caped. The muzzles of two guns had been shot 
away ; her ram had been wrenched loose in with- 
drawing from the Cumberland, her boat davits, 
smokestack, railings, and flag-staffs had been 
swept entirely away as if they never existed, and 
great dents covered her impenetrable sides. But 
as far as her fighting qualities went she was as 
good as when she started out that morning. 



THE CHEESE-BOX ON A RAFT 

The news of the engagement between the Mer- 
rimac and her Federal victims, the Cumberland 
and the Congress, caused the most intense excite- 
ment throughout America, and indeed through- 
out the whole world; but the North and South, 
of course, were particularly affected by it. 

At a hastily called cabinet meeting in Wash- 
ington, the Secretary of War said: "The 
Merrimac will destroy every one of our naval 
craft. If she can get up the Potomac it is not 
unlikely she will throw her shells or cannon-balls 
in the White House itself." In an hour's time, 
figuratively, the strength of the Union navy and 
coast defenses had crumbled before this absurd 
"Quaker meetin' house" which had come "float- 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 205 

ing down the bay." No one knew where the 
ravages thus begun would end. 

In this excited condition, mad with joy, or 
filled with dread and consternation, all of the con- 
tending States went to sleep that March night, 
little dreaming that the morrow would change the 
whole face of the situation and introduce a newer 
and more terrible form of sea-fighter than had 
sprung up yet. Even as people slept this queer 
little untried vessel was steaming toward Hamp- 
ton Roads, there to give challenge to the dreaded 
Merrimac. In the next twenty-four hours this 
unknown craft — the Monitor — and her inventor 
— John Ericsson — would be talked about on every 
street corner, at every cross-roads, and in every 
home, throughout the length and breadth of the 
land. 

Captain John Ericsson was a Swedish engineer, 
residing in America, who had already placed 
his name on the roll of fame by inventing the 
screw-propeller for driving steamships. With 
the opening of the war Ericsson had become much 
interested in devising a new type of battleship 
which should be covered with metal to make her 
impenetrable to the shot then in use. He became 
so abstracted in his idea that he worked on it day 
and night, first drawing careful plans, then work- 
ing out and assembling the parts of a small model. 
This he tried in secret in a small body of water 



206 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

one night near his home. Delighted with the be- 
havior of his little ship, he appealed to a Con- 
necticut capitalist by the name of C. S. Bushnell 
for money with which to produce a full-sized 
counterpart of the "monitor," as he termed the 
craft. Mr. Bushnell, however, insisted upon 
first taking the model to Washington to see what 
the Naval Board thought of it. 

Their efforts at the seat of government met 
with a somewhat cold reception. After a long 
explanation had been made by Ericsson of the 
virtues of his little model, he and his friend were 
calmly dismissed with these words: "It re- 
sembles nothing in the heavens above, or the 
earth beneath, or the waters under the earth. It 
would sink of itself if put in the water. You can 
take it home, and worship it without violating 
any Commandment." 

Such a verdict was really insulting, but the 
wise inventor knew that these Government offi- 
cials could not be expected to know the valuable 
points about his product at a first hearing of this 
kind. So he did not give up, but persisted in 
demonstrating his model's good features again 
and again. Finally some members of the Board 
were convinced that it might be well to try out the 
new craft, and a resolution was passed to have 
John Ericsson build a monitor for the Govern- 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 207 

ment, provided he would stand the expense of 
production if the venture proved a failure. 

With this grudging permission, the inventor, 
aided by capital furnished by Mr. Bushnell, 
worked with might and main to build the new 
ship. Night and day the adzes sent huge chips 
flying from the great oaken timbers, and night 
and day the ringing blows of the hammers, as they 
headed over rivets in the iron plates, could be 
heard in the vicinity. Constantly the operations 
were guarded, and no man without a pass was 
permitted to come near. 

At last, one day in the spring, just one hun- 
dred days after her starting, the last rivet had 
been sent home, and the Monitor was ready to 
be launched. Great was the discussion over her 
strange proportions. Like the men in Washing- 
ton when they first saw the model, distinguished 
engineers now declared she would never float; 
many attended the launching expecting to see the 
new ship plunge from the ways to the bottom of 
the river, like a turtle from a log. The truth is, 
so general was this impression that they had in- 
sisted on having boats in readiness to rescue her 
passengers in case she met their expectations. 

But Captain Ericsson had laid his plans care- 
fully; he knew far more about novel craft than 
these engineers and other naval critics. The 



208 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

queer vessel glided down the ways heavily but 
gracefully, threw a great geyser of water high 
into the air as her bow cut in, then came to a 
level on the surface, where she floated as buoy- 
antly at her cables as a duck. 

Truly she was an odd-looking craft. Her 
deck, as flat as a shingle, lay only two feet above 
the water. In its center was a large round tur- 
ret of iron plates, with no visible openings ex- 
cept two port-holes for the guns, which were 
powerful enough to discharge great balls weigh- 
ing one hundred and seventy pounds each. This 
turret was pivoted in the center, so that its in- 
mates could revolve it at will, thus directing the 
muzzles of the guns to any point of the horizon 
without changing the position of the ship. 

Besides the turret, the smooth surface of the 
deck was broken by two other elevations. One 
of these was the pilot-house, in front, while be- 
hind was the low smokestack. The pilot-house 
contained the wheel that communicated with the 
rudder, and was also round and made of iron 
plates about ten inches thick. It had one visible 
opening in the shape of a window for the pilot 
to watch his course ahead, and this was covered 
with a protecting screen of heavy metal bars. 

It was about midnight of that eventful Satur- 
day which I have described, and while the burn- 
ing Congress was still sending her flaming brands 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 209 

into the sputtering waters that waited to swallow 
her, that the anxious garrison at Fortress Mon- 
roe noticed a singular-looking craft approaching 
from the sea, towed by two small steamers. Al- 
though they did not know it then, this was the 
new little Monitor — the David of the seas that 
had come to save her people from the mighty 
bludgeon of the Southern Goliath. She was but 
a speck on the blue waters of the night, and not 
much larger in the light of day, but she had the 
bite of a mosquito, the sting of a wasp, and car- 
ried as much fear of the large in her track as 
they, as we shall presently see. Lieutenant 
Worden was in command of the Monitor, and 
acted as her pilot, while Lieutenant Green had 
charge of the gunners in the turret, and Chief 
Engineer Stimers looked after the control of the 
revolving structure. 

As the gray dawn of Sunday morning began 
to break, the newcomer passed under the quarter 
of the stranded Minnesota, and cast anchor. 
The tars on the great frigate looked curiously at 
the strange craft that had seemingly come to 
them out of the very mists of night, and won- 
dered if that insignificant u cheese-box on a raft" 
were really thinking of staying there till the 
dreaded Merrimac returned to annihilate them 
every one. They warned her of the situation, 
and told her she had better scamper away while 



2io BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

the scampering was good. Judge of their un- 
bounded astonishment and amusement when ad- 
vised by Lieutenant Worden that the small 
stranger was there to protect them and the 
other grounded vessel, the St. Lazurence! 
Loudly they guffawed. Small hopes had they 
that their noble frigate and her sister ship could 
be saved by such a pygmy warrior. 

Meanwhile, what of the Merrimac herself? 
This black-coated hero of the sea, up at Norfolk, 
had had men working on her all night, repairing 
the slight damage she had suffered in her actions 
with the Cumberland and Congress. Her loose 
ram was reset rigidly, her fractured rudder was 
mended with reenforcing metal plates, and her 
complaining old rusty engine was gone over and 
dosed with oil. By daybreak all was in readi- 
ness for the gruesome finishing of her work out 
in the channel. 

Soon the batteries on both sides of the bay were 
crowded with men, waiting morbidly and curi- 
ously to see the Merrimac destroy the stranded 
Federal ships in Hampton Roads, as she had 
promised. At Norfolk a gay holiday party of 
the rough-constitutioned was embarking on 
steam-tugs with the purpose of accompanying the 
Confederate ram as far as safety would permit. 
No thought of defeat ever entered the minds of 
these mad admirers of the new naval king. 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 211 

Even when, as they were weighing anchor, the 
crew of the Merrimac herself discovered that 
strange-looking object floating close to the Min- 
nesota, far out on the waters, they entertained 
no misgivings. If this were some new fighting 
craft that the Federals, in their moment of des- 
peration, had sent out to give them battle, her in- 
significant size silenced all doubts as to the out- 
come; probably, they thought, this was merely 
a raft or scow making an attempt to get the un- 
lucky Minnesota off the sandbar. 

Leisurely, like one out for a stroll in the morn- 
ing air, the big Merrimac came down the bay, 
followed by her retinue of tugs. Disdaining a 
look toward the Monitor she kept on till she was 
within good range of the Minnesota, when, of a 
sudden, her ports flew open and she sent a with- 
ering broadside toward the frigate. The Min- 
nesota promptly returned the hostility with her 
own broadside, the shot of which, while well di- 
rected, merely beat a tattoo against the mailed 
sides of the Southerner. 

The little Monitor seemed to consider that 
things had now gone far enough against her big 
friend. She now steamed boldly and swiftly out 
from behind the Minnesota, and the next moment 
both of her huge guns growled in thunder tones, 
and two immense iron balls of close to two hun- 
dred pounds each came hurtling against the Mer- 



212 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

rimac's armor. While they did not penetrate the 
heavy plate of the enemy, the concussion was 
such as to frighten the Confederate crew im- 
measurably. They saw that they would have 
their hands full enough to attend to this buzzing 
little hornet for the present, and at once forsook 
the Minnesota and turned to her midget protec- 
tor. 

As the Merrimac slowed up her engines, em- 
barrassed for the moment, the Monitor attempted 
to revolve her turret for two more deliveries. 
But something went wrong, and it stuck. Not 
to be frustrated, she quickly swung her bow 
around till her guns were in the position desired, 
and again they rang out, one after the other. 
One of these balls struck the roof of the enemy, 
glanced upward, went whistling through the air, 
and finally plunged into the sea fully a half-mile 
distant. The other shot hit squarely on the 
armored side, and fell, broken into fragments. 

Confident in the power of her own ten heavy 
guns, the Merrimac maneuvered to bring these to 
bear upon her agile antagonist, and finally let them 
fly with a roar that echoed from headland to 
headland. Her gunners had aimed carefully; 
but they might just as well have done so care- 
lessly. To their intense surprise every one of 
the shot that struck the Monitor (most of them 
had passed over, owing to her lowness in the 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 213 

water) had glanced off her round turret and 
pilot-house, or been smashed as if they were made 
of putty. These fellows now began to realize 
how the Unionists felt when firing at them. 
Anxiety, and even alarm, began to show in some 
of their faces. If they could not harm this crea- 
ture with their heavy shells and ball, what could 
they do to accomplish her destruction? 

Her commander bethought himself of his pow- 
erful ram. Ah! here was the solution to the 
problem; he had pierced the hull of the Cumber- 
land as if it had been made of paper; now he 
would do likewise with this saucy little upstart. 
Trust him to bring her to time ! 

Ordering all firing to be withheld, he had his 
engineer and pilot bring the Merrimac around 
for the plunge. Gaining a favorable position at 
length, all speed was put on and the heavy craft 
rushed down upon her smaller antagonist like a 
towering house. She struck quite fair, but it was 
not with her wicked ram, but her bow ; the latter 
rode upon the sharp armored edge of the Moni- 
tor's deck, receiving a bad gash and a jolt so ter- 
rific that the men on the Merrimac s deck were 
thrown violently to the planks, with ears ringing 
and blood streaming from their nostrils. 

For a brief moment or two the larger vessel 
hung upon the edge of the smaller, her great 
weight dangerously submerging the near side; 



214 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

then the Merrimac slipped off, and the Monitor 
righted as quickly and smilingly as a chip. As 
the ram pulled off anxiety on the part of her com- 
mander and crew had given place to universal 
dumbfoundment and fear. 

"Reserve your fire, my lads," said Worden, on 
the Monitor. "Aim deliberately, and make 
every shot hit him." 

Like opposing pugilists the two vessels now 
worked themselves into this and that favorable 
position, and then fired their guns. Round and 
round they sailed, backing, advancing, making 
quick dashes forward, reversing, and again fir- 
ing. The two shots of the little Monitor would 
come banging one after the other against the iron 
jacket of her adversary, none penetrating, but 
each seeming to jar her harder than its predeces- 
sor. In this dancing contest the smaller ship had 
an enormous advantage on account of her di- 
minutive size and speed. She dashed right into 
the face of her enemy and away again, for all 
the world like a sparrow tantalizing a great hawk. 
When an occasional shot from the guns of the 
Merrimac did strike her it was more luck than 
good marksmanship, at which she paid absolutely 
no attention at all. 

All this time her turret contrarily refused to 
revolve, as planned, but by wheeling about she 
could overcome this deficiency, and her two guns 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC 215 

continued to rain their immense balls upon the 
plate of the foe ship with unerring and persistent 
regularity. Rap-rap! they came, about a minute 
apart, — rap-rap ! 

Finally these tremendous blows commenced to 
tell, even against the heavy sheet iron ; and if the 
crew of the Merrimac had not been so busy at 
their guns they would have heard the oak timbers 
behind the plate creaking, groaning, and crack- 
ing. 

At this critical moment in the fight the South- 
ern boat ran aground. The Monitor steamed 
around her several times, seeking for weakening 
places in which to plant more shot. Once Lieu- 
tenant Worden made a dash toward the enemy's 
propeller, hoping to strike and disable it, but 
missed by a narrow margin. Before backing 
away he sent two shots which were so well aimed 
that they struck the muzzles of a couple of can- 
non protruding from the port-holes of the Mer- 
rimac, and broke them off, scattering ugly 
splinters of iron among the gunners inside and 
injuring a number. 

Thus the battle went on till about noon. In the 
meantime the spectators' tugs from Norfolk had 
scuttled back quite a distance, to avoid the great 
cannon-balls that were ricocheting along the 
waters in every direction. Three jagged open- 
ings had been finally torn through metal and oak 



216 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

in the Merrimac's mailed side, and deeming dis- 
cretion the better part of valor she signaled for 
aid. 

While two Confederate tugs were running for- 
ward in response, she managed to place a shot 
fair against the grating of the pilot-house of the 
Monitor. Through this, unfortunately, Lieuten- 
ant Worden happened to be looking as he di- 
rected his ship into a new position. The concus- 
sion, so close to his head, knocked him senseless. 
Flakes of iron were driven into his face, blinding 
him completely for the time. He fell back from 
the wheel, and the Monitor was left for a few 
moments without a guiding hand. 

Of course all was confusion on board the Mon- 
itor; but within a few minutes Worden had re- 
covered sufficiently to give the order to sheer 
away. While the second officer took the wheel, 
he was carried to the cabin below deck. Here, 
lying on a sofa with his eyes bandaged, and the 
horror of life-long blindness upon him, the brave 
commander asked faintly, "Have I saved the 
Minnesota?" 

"Yes," said the surgeon, "and whipped the 
Merrimack 

"Then I care not what becomes of me," was the 
response. 

Aside from this single injury to her com- 
mander, the Monitor's crew had suffered no 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC ■ 217 

wounds at all during the long fight, which now 
closed; nor was the ship damaged. It is stated 
that while the two tugs were towing the Merri- 
mac off the shoal and back to Norfolk, one officer 
aboard the little victor stood before a mirror 
leisurely combing his hair, while an old tar in 
blue middy sat calmly smoking his pipe. 

The two ironclads never met again. After be- 
ing repaired, the Merrimac made some short 
sorties in Hampton Roads, but failed to engage 
any more Union vessels. When, on the 9th of 
May, the Confederate land forces abandoned 
Norfolk, the officers of the Merrimac tried to 
save her by running her up the James River. 
But this was found impossible, owing to her 
great draught, and she was run ashore on Craney 
Island and deliberately set afire, after being 
heavily trained with gunpowder. 

These two antagonists, each then a queer 
type, were the forerunners of the modern steel 
battleship or dreadnought. 



X 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 

By the flow of the inland river, 

Whence the fleets of iron have fled, 
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver, 
Asleep on the ranks of the dead : — 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the Judgment Day; 
Under the one, the Blue, 
Under the other, the Gray. 

— Finch. 



Admiral David Farragut 

BREAKING INTO THE MISSISSIPPI 

America has never had a more popular naval 
hero than David Glasgow Farragut, born on July 
5th, 1801, at Campbell's Station, a border town 
in eastern Tennessee. Although his father was 
of pure Spanish descent, foreign born, Farragut 
himself showed all through his life the most 
sterling of American qualities, among which his 
intrepid bravery and loyalty to country stood out 
with unusual prominence. 

No American naval officer has ever served the 
United States so long with distinction. A mid- 
shipman in the first organized navy this country 
possessed, in 18 12, when a mere child of nine 
years of age, he went through some of the most 
exciting sea skirmishes of the second war with 
England. An acting lieutenant at eighteen, he 
cruised in the Mediterranean seas and had many 
adventures with pirates, during the course of one 
of which he defeated the infamous and blood- 
thirsty Diablito and saw him fall with a bullet 
through his head. A captain (the highest com- 
mission up to that time), at the age of sixty-one, 

221 



222 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

in the Civil War, he conducted himself with a 
signal gallantry. 

The period of Farragut's brilliant and victor- 
ious career really opened in 1862, when he had 
already been treading a deck in the service of his 
country more than a half-century. Not until 
then had the opportunity come for him to demon- 
strate the full extent of his worth, acquired dur- 
ing fifty-two years' of faithful and intelligent 
service. Most men would have thought of retir- 
ing from ordinary scenes of activity at his age, 
let alone entering upon new ones which called for 
almost superhuman endeavor. Not so the hardy 
Farragut. 

Those inland waters which were to be thence- 
forth inseparably connected with his name and 
reputation, had become from the first the chief 
seat of the naval operations of the war. The 
control of the banks of the Mississippi had for 
some time been recognized as of primary im- 
portance to themselves by the Northerners. But 
the whole stretch of shore from Memphis to the 
Gulf of Mexico was held by the Confederates, as 
a consequence of which they were able to ship 
large quantities of supplies from the Southwest 
to the seat of war. 

Before President Lincoln and the Federal 
Naval Board a plan was presented for a naval 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 223 

expedition against New Orleans. It was thought 
a fleet of wooden ships under a clever commander 
might run up past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, 
the powerful seaward defenses of New Orleans, 
break through the river obstructions, destroy the 
Confederate fleet, appear suddenly before the 
Crescent City, and capture it. The plan was bold 
and difficult ; it would require an officer of resolu- 
tion and sagacity to carry it into successful ex- 
ecution. Who should it be? Everybody on the 
Board unhesitatingly said, "Farragut." And 
Farragut it was. 

So on the 9th of January, 1862, he was ap- 
pointed to the command of the Western Gulf 
Blockading Squadron, as admiral, and put to sea 
early in February, from Hampton Roads, in his 
flagship, the Hartford. At Ship Island he was 
joined by twenty-seven ships, among which were 
sloops-of-war, gunboats, and twenty-one mortar- 
schooners, carrying in all two hundred guns. An 
army of fifteen thousand soldiers, under General 
Butler, was to follow the fleet in transports and 
hold the places captured. 

The Confederate defenses against which Far- 
ragut proposed to pit his strength and skill, were 
of a very formidable character. The mouth of 
the Mississippi spreads out into five passes, or 
channels. At that time these were extremely 



224 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

difficult of passage owing to large deposits of 
sand and mud brought down by the mighty river. 
At a bend in the stream, twenty miles above the 
passes, two powerful forts defended the approach 
further on. These defenses mounted a hundred 
and fifteen guns, and were garrisoned by fifteen 
hundred soldiers. 

Quite close to them two immense chains were 
stretched across the river, being supported on 
eight old hulks. Above the forts were anchored 
the river flotilla and the Confederate fleet of 
fifteen vessels, including the ironclad ram Ma- 
nassas and the large floating battery Louisiana. 
A hundred miles farther up the stream lay New 
Orleans, the goal of the Union expedition. 

The passing of the extensive sandbar at the 
mouth of the Mississippi was the first difficulty 
encountered by Farragut. Some of the heavier 
ships ran aground several times, and the Missis- 
sippi herself was dragged by tug-boats through 
a foot of mud. For fully two weeks the tugs 
struggled to work the Pensacola across, and the 
passage of the Brooklyn required half as long. 
The Colorado could not get over at all. 

Once on the other side of the bar the Northern 
forces breathed easier. Leaving the Colorado 
behind them, the ships steamed up the river to 
within three miles of Fort Jackson. Several days 
were spent in suitably placing the mortar-schoon- 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 225 

ers, all under a strong enemy fire and in open 
boats. Hidden under the trees whose branches 
hung well out over the water, and with their 
projecting masts and rigging camouflaged by 
bunches of boughs tied to them, the schooners 
were moored within two miles of the fort, yet 
were entirely out of view. 

On the morning of the 18th of April, Farragut 
ordered the bombardment to begin. For six days 
a steady and unremitting firing was kept up by 
the Northerners, and replied to with energy by 
the enemy. In that time over six thousand shells 
fell on the works of Fort Jackson and Fort St. 
Philip, breaking the bastions and carrying dam- 
age wherever they struck. During the hours of 
night the bombardment would slacken, which 
gave the weary men a needed respite. 

After darkness had settled down in earnest 
that first day, and quietness had wrapped itself 
about the ships of the Northern fleet, the whole 
sky was suddenly lighted as if by a vast conflagra- 
tion. Looking up-stream, the Federals saw 
great tongues of flame shooting up into the black 
void of night, close to the water. The mammoth 
furnace of fire came slowly drifting down upon 
them, swaying uncertainly this way and that, 
borne on the sluggish current, conveying in its 
crackling embers and terrific heat a terrible threat 
to the ships below. It was a fire-raft, one hun- 



226 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

dred and fifty feet long, piled with pine knots full 
of inflammable pitch, which the crafty Confeder- 
ates had pushed off in the hope of destroying the 
vessels their guns seemed unable to damage. 

As they saw the huge bonfire bearing down 
upon them, a panic seized many of the sailors. 
It was only by the most heroic conduct that the 
officers of the imperiled Union vessels quieted 
them. Hastily drawing their anchors, and un- 
der good discipline, the ships crowded to one side, 
and the raft passed harmlessly by, although its 
heat blistered the paint of some of the nearest. 
Other fire-rafts followed — rafts even larger, 
piled higher with combustibles smeared with tur- 
pentine, flaming dangerously far out on either 
side as the wind would catch erratically into their 
mass. Some of these would surely have ignited 
the Union craft had not sailors gone up ahead to 
meet them in small boats, and bravely towed them 
aside at the expense of scorched faces and hands. 

On the third night of the bombardment Far- 
ragut sent out his fleet captain, Henry H. Bell, 
on a dangerous mission. With two gunboats — 
the Itasca and the Pinola — Bell was to break 
through the barrier of Confederate schooners 
and heavy chains thrown across the river directly 
below the forts. The enterprise was one of 
great danger, for the gunboats would be obliged 
to do their work within easy range of the shore 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 227 

works as well as the enemy craft, yet neither Cap- 
tain Caldwell of the Itasca, nor Captain Crosby 
of the Pinola hesitated, and their crews accepted 
the undertaking with cheers. 

However, no sooner had Captain Caldwell gal- 
lantly run up alongside of one of the hulks sup- 
porting the chains, and boarded her preparatory 
to slipping the chains and firing her, than they 
were slipped by an over-zealous sailor without his 
knowledge, the hulk's anchorage gave way, and 
both craft drifted aground under the forts. 

In this dangerous position, and under a 
tremendous fire, the Itasca was obliged to remain 
until the Pinola came to her aid. Then she 
backed out, and still undaunted, Captain Caldwell 
ran his gunboat up the river through the gap that 
had been made in the chains. After going some 
distance he turned about, and bore down at full 
speed upon the portion of the barrier that still 
remained. His bow caught the chains, lifted 
them three or four feet out of water, and then 
broke them. He and Captain Crosby then re- 
joined the fleet below. 

On the night of the sixth day Captain Caldwell 
once more went up the river, to see if the gap 
were still open. Finding it so, he returned and 
reported the welcome news to Admiral Farragut, 
who had decided the following night to be a 
propitious one for making a dash past the Con- 
federate works and craft. 



228 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

In the meantime careful preparations for the 
undertaking had been made. The hulls of the 
Union ships had been smeared with mud out of 
the river bed, to make them less visible, the decks 
were whitewashed so that objects on them could 
be seen by the sailors at night in the absence of 
lights, bags of sand and rolls of sail protected 
the exposed machinery and important ship's 
parts, and all the higher spars and unnecessary 
rigging were sent ashore. Force-pumps and en- 
gine hose were made ready, ladders were thrown 
over the sides to assist the carpenter's mates in 
stopping chance shot holes, tubs of water to ex- 
tinguish possible fires were placed on deck, while 
grapnels were placed in the small boats in readi- 
ness for boarding an enemy craft. 

At last the looked-for night — the 24th — settled 
down. The last rays of light showed the Union 
ships quiet and peaceful, as on other nights, to 
the Confederates. But under the sham tranquil- 
ity Northern feet and hands fretted for the ac- 
tion that was so near, and brains were far busier 
than ever before. 

As the moon rose, full and clear, about half- 
past three, it found the whole fleet under way. 
Silently the ships steamed up toward the forts; 
but already the unusual sounds had been detected 
by the sharp ears of the foe lookouts, and the Con- 
federates were ready to receive them. Bonfire 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 229 

after bonfire began to blaze up from different 
parts of the shore line; fire-rafts added their con- 
flagration to the scene; almost every inch of the 
watercourse in the neighborhood was illumined 
with the intensity of day. 

Farragut's heart sank for a moment. He saw 
that the run could no longer be made in secret; 
that whatever was to be done must be accom- 
plished in open view of the Southerners. As for 
retreating, he never once thought of that. 

In single file the Union ships approached the 
gap that had been made in the line of old hulks. 
As they did so their mortar-schooners opened up 
a heavy fire upon the forts. Leading the three 
divisions was the little Cayuga. When she had 
come abreast of them the forts opened a terrific 
fusillade upon her. The air was at once filled 
with shells and other explosives, which almost 
blinded her pilot in the forecastle as he tried to 
see his way. He turned in close under the walls 
of Fort St. Philip, which caused most of the in- 
tense enemy fire to pass through his rigging. Al- 
though this was badly shot up, the hull was hardly 
touched. 

After passing the last battery, and thinking 
himself clear, Lieutenant Perkins, the pilot, 
looked back for some of his sister ships. Seeing 
none, he was greatly alarmed, thinking they must 
all have been sunken in front of the forts. Be- 



230 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

lieving himself alone, the plucky commander of 
the Cayuga nevertheless steamed on ahead, 
straight into the eleven gunboats of the foe that 
began to bear down upon him. It seemed sheer 
suicide — an act of madness. 

Three of the Confederate steamers attacked 
the Cayuga simultaneously, and attempted to 
board her. But when the nearest was within 
thirty feet, the little ship trained her eleven-inch 
gun upon her, and crippled her so badly that she 
was set afire, and had to run ashore, where she 
soon burned to the ground. The second enemy 
hauled off after a shot from the Cayuga's Parrot 
gun had lodged in her bow. 

Only one was left. It was decided to board 
this ship ; but just as the Northern sailors rushed 
forward for the purpose, they saw the Union ship 
Veruna suddenly appear upon the scene, firing 
her guns rapidly into the Southerner, who pre- 
cipitately retreated. 

With this timely assistance, the Cayuga was 
saved just in the nick of time, the other Confeder- 
ate vessels holding off and giving their undivided 
attention to the newcomer. As for the Veruna, 
her recklessness was to be wondered at. Im- 
petuously she steamed in among the enemy craft, 
discharging her weapons with such effective aim 
that soon the foe were beating away up the river. 
Unsupported, the audacious Veruna took up the 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 231 

pursuit; but in her tracks, hidden in the lurid 
darkness, steamed another enemy after her — the 
Confederate gunboat, Governor Moore. Cun- 
ningly this ship hoisted at her masthead a white 
light, with a red one at her peak, — the distinguish- 
ing lights of the Union vessels — thinking to de- 
ceive the Veruna into believing she was followed 
by a friend, should she happen to detect the 
steamer in her wake. 

Quite unaware of his rearward danger, Lieu- 
tenant Kennon, of the Governor Moore, raced 
under full steam after the fugitive. Slowly he 
gained. At last he ran her down. Hauling in 
his Union lights, he opened fire, and the duel that 
ensued was furious. Twice the Governor Moore 
rammed the Union ship; the last time she began 
to fill with water. But still undaunted, she threw 
three shells into the vitals of her larger antagon- 
ist. This set fire to the Confederate, who drew 
off, only to surrender to another Union gunboat 
which had come swiftly forward during the 
progress of the fight. Ffteen minutes later the 
Veruna sank. 

Meanwhile, at the forts and directly above 
them, the scene beggars description. All that 
can be said is that everything was in the utmost 
confusion and wildest excitement. Blinded by 
the smoke of the guns, one of the Union vessels 
fired a broadside into a friend instead of the 



232 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

enemy. Shot and shell were whizzing through 
the air in almost every direction; the night was 
horrible with every conceivable sound of mortal 
combat — harsh cries of man, harsh plunge of pro- 
jectile in the waters, harsh thud and tear of de- 
structive shot against giving timbers, harsh grunt 
of steam on pursuing and pursued vessels. 

In passing the forts the larger ships stopped 
for a few moments and played their powerful 
batteries upon the crumbling walls, receiving a 
heavy fire in return. The lighter ships, however, 
scudded by without stopping, although they let 
fly showers of grape and shrapnel in the opera- 
tion. The whole of the first division cleared the 
line of hulks and forts successfully in this man- 
ner. 

Then came the center division, composed of 
three large ships — the Hartford, the Richmond, 
and the Brooklyn. The previous firing had filled 
the air with dense clouds of smoke, making the 
way almost impenetrable for those following be- 
hind the first vessels. Barely had the Hartford, 
bearing Farragut, come abreast of the fortifica- 
tions, than a fire-raft came down the river di- 
rectly toward her. In avoiding this danger she 
ran aground under the batteries of Fort St. 
Philip, in much the same position as the Cayuga 
had previously occupied. This time, however, 
the guns of the enemy works were lowered, and 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 233 

as she lay there, helpless, the flagship was sub- 
jected to a withering fire. "We seemed to be 
breathing flame rather than air," said Farragut 
afterward. 

The Hartford retaliated as well as she could 
with her own batteries. In the midst of her tor- 
ture, a Confederate tug boldly guided the fire- 
raft up alongside, and in an instant the flames 
had communicated themselves to the Union ship. 
By the hardest kind of exertion, the fire brigade 
of the vessel managed to quench the blaze on 
shipboard, and push off the fire-raft with pikes as 
the ship's guns bellowed forth and sank the 
audacious tug. A few minutes later, to the joy 
of all, her struggling engines succeeded in back- 
ing the Hartford out into deep water. She 
headed round up-stream again, and followed 
through the gap in the hulks after the other Union 
ships. 

Altogether fourteen of the Union craft passed 
clear of the Confederate obstructions, only one 
being lost — the reckless Veruna. The wonderful 
feat had been accomplished. Farragut had 
brought his fleet of wooden vessels past the for- 
midable forts and equally formidable river ob- 
stacles with only a loss of one, and thirty-seven 
men killed and a hundred and fifty wounded. 

All day of the 24th the fleet anchored off the 
Quarantine Station to review damage and make 



234 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

repairs. On the following morning they steamed 
up the river to English Turn, where the two Con- 
federate river batteries of Chalmette and Mc- 
Gehee were quickly silenced. 



THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS 

When the inhabitants of New Orleans heard 
of the approach of the Union fleet under Far- 
ragut their consternation and dismay knew no 
bounds. News had come of the entrance of the 
enemy into the mouth of the Mississippi, but they 
had the utmost faith in the ability of Forts Jack- 
son and St. Philip, and their supporting water- 
craft, to put a summary stop to further advance. 

Meanwhile, as the Union fleet neared New Or- 
leans, they found their progress greatly impeded 
by all kinds of wreckage sent down from above 
to interfere with their movement. Worthless 
old scows and ships loaded with tiers of burning 
cotton-bales were frequently met floating down 
stream. As the invaders came within sight of 
the city itself, they saw that the levee was an ob- 
ject of desolation. Ships, cotton, coal, lumber, 
and warehouses were all in one common blaze, 
and the ingenuity of the Union officers was taxed 
to the limit to avoid the conflagration when they 
reached it. 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 235 

After three days of parley, Farragut sent a 
force of two hundred and fifty Marines with two 
howitzers, under the command of Fleet-Captain 
Bell, to the City Hall. Before this they drew up, 
and trained the guns on the front of the building. 
Rapidly a great crowd had gathered back of 
them, and angry shouts and protestations filled 
the air when two Union officers went calmly up- 
stairs and pulled down the State flag and ran up 
in its place the Stars-and-Stripes. In this man- 
ner New Orleans was forced to bow to the iron 
will of Admiral Farragut. 

In the meantime the garrisons of Forts Jackson 
and St. Philip had mutinied. Taking advantage 
of the confusion among the Confederates, Com- 
mander Porter, who had stayed behind the main 
fleet with his mortar-schooners, made a fresh at- 
tack and succeeded in capturing the works. The 
defending enemy craft were also taken, and Far- 
ragut had these sent down the river for the troops 
of General Butler who, it will be remembered, 
was to follow him with a body of soldiers. Sev- 
eral of the ironclad rams, on which the Confed- 
erates had placed the greatest hopes, were de- 
stroyed in the general cleaning-up process that 
was now going on along the river between its 
mouth and New Orleans. The principal ship of 
this class — the Mississippi — was burned by the 
Southerners themselves, and came floating down 



236 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

stream in a mass of flames as Captain Lee started 
up the river to seize her. 

The fall of the Queen City was the knell to 
Confederate hopes on the mighty Mississippi. 
After the surrender the panic extended far up- 
stream. The two forts at Carrollton, eight miles 
above, were abandoned, the guns spiked, before 
the Union boats appeared there. 

Farragut was now in favor of returning down 
the Mississippi, and making an immediate attack 
on Mobile. But the Government held to its or- 
iginal intention of having the fleet continue on 
up the river to join the Union flotilla under Flag- 
Officer Davis, which then lay nine hundred miles 
above the mouth of the stream. In vain Far- 
ragut tried to convince his superiors in Washing- 
ton that his force was inadequate for such an 
undertaking; that the high bluffs above New 
Orleans were strongly fortified in many places, 
and would require a military operation to reduce 
them. To make matters more unpromising for 
him, the waters of the river were beginning to 
fall, leaving many bars where there was not suffi- 
cient depth to float his ships even now. If he 
should succeed in going above Vicksburg, he saw 
no way of getting down again until the freshets 
of the following spring. 

At two o'clock in the morning of the 28th of 
June, the squadron of eleven ships got under way, 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 237 

and began to stem the roily current. The mor- 
tar-schooners had come up, and it was only a 
short time before these found much to do, as 
well as the other ships, in forcing their way along. 
The mortars opened up first on the earthworks, 
and then the gunboats got in their broadsides. 
In reply, the ridge of bluffs seemed a living sheet 
of fire, as their batteries thundered from one end 
to the other, and grape and shrapnel and ball 
came cutting down in the midst of the ships. 

The Hartford passed at slow speed, discharg- 
ing her guns with deliberation and splendid ef- 
fect, although the elevated works of the enemy 
were not an easy mark on account of their angle. 
From time to time, as she found herself forging 
too far ahead of her consorts, she would pause to 
allow them to catch up. 

On one occasion Farragut was watching the 
fight from his favorite position in the mizzen 
rigging, when the captain of the gun on the poop- 
deck asked him to get down as he wished to di- 
rect his gun near that spot. Hardly had the Ad- 
miral left his post when an enemy shot cut away 
the whole mizzen rigging just above his head. 

The batteries of the outlying defenses were 
silenced more readily than Farragut had dared to 
hope. In two hours the first divisions of the fleet 
had passed ; but owing to a misunderstanding of 
orders, the third division dropped down the river. 



238 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Proceeding on his course, the great seaman finally 
joined Davis's flotilla a few miles above Vicks- 
burg, to which Davis had come after a brilliant 
victory at Memphis. 

As the combined fleets lay at anchor, news 
reached them that the Confederate ram Arkansas, 
which had been especially built for the destruc- 
tion of the Union squadrons, was in Yazoo River. 
Two ships were at once ordered away on a re- 
connoitering expedition. About six miles up the 
Yazoo they met the ironclad coming at full speed. 
Realizing that they were unfit to make any kind 
of a fight against the monster, the Union vessels 
retreated, keeping up a continual fire from their 
stern guns until they had gained such a distance 
that their shots no longer reached the armored 



*&' 



target. 

Warned of the approach of the Arkansas, the 
Union fleet made hasty preparations to meet her. 
As their fires were low, there was no time to get 
up steam, so attention was given entirely to the 
guns. 

Sweeping grandly into the Mississippi, the ram 
came downstream under full pressure. Past the 
line of Yankee ships she puffed, firing her guns 
in the act, her screw propeller churning the water 
into swirling eddies in her wake. The Union 
broadsides, trained on the impudent craft, thun- 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 239 

dered viciously; and their projectiles rained 
against her metal jacket in a crashing staccato 
that sounded like a thousand imps hammering a 
boiler. But all the grape and shrapnel in that 
fusillade could do was to puncture her smoke- 
stack like a sieve and tear her flag away ; bullets 
striking elsewhere merely flattened out or broke 
in bits on her plate. 

Making no effort to turn about and attack her 
enemy, the Arkansas continued on to Vicksburg, 
where she sought protection under the guns of 
the fort. Three weeks later, however, she was 
to meet her end. Then, in attempting to reach 
Baton Rouge, her machinery broke down, she 
ran aground at the mercy of the Union ships, and 
her commander set her afire. 

Meanwhile Farragut had again passed the 
fortifications of Vicksburg with his ships. He 
continued on downstream, finally arriving at New 
Orleans. Here, on the 12th of August, he re- 
ceived his commission as rear-admiral, and was 
the first officer in the United States Navy to hoist 
his admiral's flag at the main. 

As most of his vessels were now in need of re- 
pairs and provisions, he steamed down to the 
Gulf of Mexico, where, in the harbor of Pensa- 
cola, his fleet lay refitting through the remaining 
summer months. 



240 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

PORT HUDSON AND MOBILE BAY 

During Farragut's stay at Pensacola reports 
arrived that the Confederates were strengthen- 
ing the defenses at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, 
the only two important strategic positions on the 
Mississippi still held by them. Believing that it 
would soon be advisable to make a concerted at- 
tack on these points, the Admiral returned to 
New Orleans, from whence he could better or- 
ganize his forces and make a quick dash into the 
enemy. Before his ships could move upstream, 
however, it would be necessary to wait for higher 
water and the arrival of troops which the Gov- 
ernment was sending, under General Banks, to 
his aid. 

At last the long-expected army put in an ap- 
pearance, but was not ready for its part in the 
program till late in February. Then, when Gen- 
eral Banks had assured Farragut that his soldiers 
only awaited the word to move forward, he made 
his plans for an immediate start. 

Leaving the soldiers to constitute a land force, 
and move along the shores parallel with his squad- 
ron for attack in the rear of the enemy batteries 
that were to be met, Admiral Farragut weighed 
anchor on the 14th of March and steamed up to 
within seven miles of Port Hudson, where his 
ships anchored off Profit's Island. 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 241 

His enterprise was a most difficult one. Port 
Hudson was situated in a sharp bend of the Mis- 
sissippi. The high bluffs on the east side of 
the stream, covering the approach of the town 
for a mile and a half from below, were bristling 
with powerful open and masked batteries which 
threatened destruction to any ship passing them. 
To add to the difficulties of navigation the strong 
current that swept around the curve of the river, 
formed a deep channel under the bluffs, while on 
the opposite side were dangerous shoals and 
baffling eddies. Thus, if vessels coming up- 
stream did not place themselves directly under the 
fire of the defenses on the elevations, they must 
attempt to run the gauntlet through shallow water 
that would be very likely to send them aground, a 
helpless prey to the long-range guns of the foe. 

Farragut's squadron counted four warships 
and three gunboats, supplemented with a number 
of mortar-schooners. The latter were to take a 
position in advance of the other craft, and were 
to keep up a heavy fire to divert as much atten- 
tion as possible, while the remaining ships worked 
by. Each of the latter, excepting the Mississippi, 
was ordered to lash a gunboat to her port side, 
so that in case of injury or accident she could be 
towed by her consort to a place of safety. 

After darkness had settled down over the river 
that night, a red light suddenly appeared at the 



242 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

stern of the Hartford, as a signal for the squad- 
ron to form in line behind her. Answering lights 
soon showed that all were in position, and then 
the flag-ship slowly steamed upstream. Nothing 
but the soft chug-chug of the exhaust pipes and 
the faint clink-clank of engine parts could be 
heard, without it were the swish of curling waters 
cut by the sharp bows of the Union flotilla. On 
deck the men went about their tasks silently, 
muffling every operation they could. The very 
tension seemed to portend the sudden breaking 
of a terrific storm. 

Undeterred, the little Union squadron crept 
steadily forward ; but now every man was at his 
station before the guns, waiting for the order of 
Farragut to pull the lanyards. All at once the 
shore opposite them was thrown out into bold re- 
lief by a great flare of flame ; there instantly fol- 
lowed a thundering crash of cannon, and shot 
spattered into the water all around the Yankees, 
sang through their rigging, and cut down some 
of the brave fellows themselves. 

Quick came the reply from the squadron. 
Guided by the flare of the enemy guns, their own 
were trained like lightning, and heavy reports and 
great clouds of smoke rolled upward from the 
river level. 

A little later so close did the flag-ship run to the 
shore that a Confederate officer in command of 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 243 

one of the batteries, seeing Farragut and two 
junior officers standing on the poop-deck within 
pistol range, stepped beyond the parapet for 
a moment and leveled his pistol and pulled the 
trigger. Fortunately for the Union men it 
missed fire. Seizing another pistol, the South- 
erner was in the act of making good his ill luck, 
when a musket aboard the flag-ship flashed, and 
he toppled over. Farragut, who had just seen his 
danger, turned quickly. It was to discover his 
own disobedient young son standing near, with 
excited face and a gun from which the smoke 
still curled! 

The roar of the mortars, the shells passing 
like meteors across the heavens, the guns flashing 
and blazing until along their port sides a broad 
stripe of fire seemed to have been painted upon 
every one of the ships ; the fitful glare of the bon- 
fires on shore ; the crashing sounds of battle, and 
the heavy interludes of brief silence; the dense 
clouds of powder-tainted smoke settling down 
upon the water and vessels, then rising — all this 
made a scene young Royall never forgot to his 
dying day. 

Up in the mizzen-top of the Hartford the pilot, 
on whose coolness depended the safe passage of 
the ship, had stationed himself with one end of a 
speaking-tube whose outlet was at the steersman's 
wheel far below. On account of the low-lying 



244 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

smoke the latter could see nothing himself. As 
the pilot, high over his head, would call out 
"Starboard!" or "Port!" he made the proper turn 
of his wheel to avoid the perils of the passage. 

Finally the Hartford and her consort steamed 
around the bend in the Mississippi past the last 
of the enemy's defenses. Dropping anchor in 
safety above Port Hudson, Farragut looked 
anxiously back downstream for the rest of his 
squadron. Not a friendly outline could he see 
in the darkness beyond; but in that gulf of smoke 
and night he could distinctly hear the heavy rum- 
ble of guns, and presently could see, in a sudden 
glare of light above the rolling smoke-clouds, the 
masthead of a ship that he knew to be the Mis- 
sissippi, and which appeared to be on fire. 

Meanwhile below the flag-ship, everything was 
confusion and disaster. The other Union ves- 
sels continued to slowly grope their way up- 
stream, hammered every yard of the way by the 
shot of the breastworks on the bluffs. The Rich- 
mond managed to reach the bend without great 
mishap, but just as she thought herself out of 
range, a Confederate ball struck the steampipe 
and upset both safety-valves. With her pipes 
hissing like a thousand geese, she found her steam 
escaping so fast that she could no longer make 
headway against the current, and was forced to 
drift out of action. 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 245 

The Mississippi was at the lower end of the 
line of Yankee ships, and the last to reach the 
treacherous bend. As she came abreast of this, 
she grounded on a bar. Every effort was made 
to back her off, but unavailingly. For the larger 
part of an hour she lay exposed to the galling 
cross-fire of three nearby Confederate defenses, 
answering the while in splendid manner with her 
own guns. Then realizing the impossibility of 
saving his ship, and wishing to save the lives of 
his crew to the uttermost, the commander of the 
ship had her put to the torch, and in the small 
boats her crew pulled away. In a short time the 
fine old vessel was wrapped in flames from the 
water's edge to her maintop, a seething furnace. 
Presently she blew up with a terrific report, scat- 
tering fragments of her once stately form in 
every direction. 

Admiral Farragut thus found himself alone 
upon the hostile river, with only the companion- 
ship of the gunboat lashed to his ship's side. Be- 
low him lay Port Hudson; above was Vicksburg 
— both towns filled with Yankee-hating South- 
erners. Surmising that the remainder of his 
squadron had probably been unable to get by the 
foe's river defenses, Farragut got into communi- 
cation with General Grant's land forces, who 
were in the vicinity, and in this way managed to 
revictual and recoal his vessel. Thereupon, for 



246 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

a couple of weeks, he patrolled the river between 
Port Hudson, silencing the weak batteries he en- 
countered. 

Upon arriving near Port Hudson again in 
early April he became very anxious to communi- 
cate with the rest of his ships, if there were any 
left below him. It was impossible to send dis- 
patches by land, as the enemy was alert to every 
suspicious movement, so when Edward Gabau- 
dan, the Admiral's secretary, offered to proceed 
alone by way of the river, Farragut assented. 

This undertaking of Gabaudan's was one of 
the most dangerous character, filled with perils 
from stream and enemy alike, but the young 
Yankee did not flinch, even after Farragut, in 
the kindness of his great heart, pointed them out 
to him. Providing himself with a pistol and a 
paddle, he crawled one night at dusk into a small 
dugout, which his associates then covered with 
boughs, and was pushed off into the swirling cur- 
rent among the numerous logs which in those 
days were continually floating down the mighty 
Mississippi, on their way to the Gulf. 

After an exciting trip he reached Richmond. 
A solitary rocket darted up into the air at this 
point, bursting into a shower of fiery sparks 
against the dark sky. It was the signal to Far- 
ragut, a few miles above, that his daring secre- 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 247 

tary had succeeded in passing the dangerous 
batteries of the enemy, and would immediately 
deliver his dispatches. 

The following night the watching Admiral de- 
tected other rockets arising from the vicinity of 
Richmond, and with a sigh of relief read in them 
the message that all his squadron except the Mis- 
sissippi were waiting his commands in the lower 
waters. 

Shortly after the fall of Vicksburg and Port 
Hudson, Farragut turned over the entire com- 
mand of the river fleet above New Orleans to 
Rear-Admiral Porter, and about the first week of 
August sailed for New York in the Hartford. 

The successful opening of the Mississippi now 
allowed the Feden.l Government to turn its at- 
tention to the extensive coastline of the Gulf. 
Next to New Orleans, Mobile was the most im- 
portant of the Confederate ports, having become 
a very busy shipping station for the supplies of 
the southern district. An attack on Mobile, 
therefore, became the next naval project worth 
while for the Yankees. 

In January, 1864, Farragut was once more sent 
to the Gulf, this time to take the offensive against 
the city he had wanted to attack months before, 
but which the Naval Board had erroneously 
thought unwise to tackle. In the meantime, the 



248 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

foe had greatly increased the defenses of Mobile, 
making the task of capturing it a most herculean 
one, to say the least. 

For six weary months Farragut now had to 
lay in the waters of the Gulf on blockade duty, 
while his fleet was being assembled and the Con- 
federates made their position stronger. At 
length, on the night of the 5th of August, the 
whole Union fleet, stripped for action, lay just 
outside the harbor of Mobile. Everything was 
in complete readiness, from ship to man, for the 
fight that the Yankees knew could be nothing else 
than a desperate one. 

By this time the defenses of the Bay were 
most formidable and of a character to carry 
dread to the heart of almost any attacking force. 
The only deep-water channel for the passage of 
ships lay directly under the guns of Fort Morgan. 
Across the entrance, from Fort Gaines to the 
edge of the channel, the enemy had driven a 
double line of huge stakes, and in the channel 
itself they had made defensive measures doubly 
sure by sinking a triple row of torpedoes. 

Within the harbor, and above Fort Morgan, 
lay the Confederate squadron, commanded by 
Admiral Buchanan. It was small in numbers, 
consisting only of three gunboats and the iron- 
clad Tennessee (an improvement on the Mer- 
rimac, which we have met previously), the latter 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 249 

being the most powerful craft of its kind in the 
South. But backed up as it was with the strong 
additional defenses named, this flotilla was con- 
sidered fully ample by its supporters to protect 
the city. 

Against this array of obstacles Admiral Far- 
ragut stood ready to fling a fleet of twenty-one 
wooden vessels and four monitors, the latter pat- 
terned after the famous "cheese-box on a raft" 
creation of Ericsson's. Lashed together, two by 
two, the vessels were to sail in pairs. A large 
man-of-war, the Brooklyn, headed the line, Far- 
ragut's flag-ship, the Hartford, coming next. 

Just at daylight the next morning the Union 
ships started forward. Farragut had taken his 
stand in the rigging close under the maintop, 
from whence he could see clearly the course of 
the coming fight. As they approached the enemy 
defenses, the Tecumseh let fly two shots at one 
of the Confederate gunboats, and was the first 
to attempt the crossing of the dangerous line of 
submarine mines. Gaining these after some 
hard fighting, and crushing a passage through the 
stakes, she was unlucky enough to strike a tor- 
pedo. There was a great explosion, the water 
under her bow spurted high, and the stricken ship 
plunged by the head to the bottom of the Bay, 
with her colors still flying. 

Meanwhile the other ships were being engaged 



250 ROYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

one by one with the Southern craft. The two 
gunboats of the enemy fired with incredible ac- 
curacy, and were so quick in their movements 
that for a brief space of time the Union vessels 
were thrown into confusion. They backed upon 
one another, owing to their bunched order, and 
became entangled in what seemed an inextricable 
mess. To add to their distress this happened in 
a part of the waters where they were exposed to 
the full brunt of the enemy fire, both from water 
and land. 

There is no telling how this situation would 
have resulted had it not been for the prompt de- 
cision and prompt action of the Admiral himself. 
Like Dewey at Manila, he solved the problem at 
the critical moment when a moment's further 
delay would have resulted disastrously, snatch- 
ing victory out of the very flames of defeat. 

Seeing that the Brooklyn, which had been fol- 
lowing the ill-fated Tecumseh when the latter 
went down, was wavering before the line of sub- 
marine mines, Farragut sent up the signal, 
"What's the trouble?" 

The answer came back, "Torpedoes ahead." 

Then followed the gallant Admiral's famous 
reply : "Damn the torpedoes ! Go ahead. Four 
bells [full speed] !" 

Still the Brooklyn hesitated apparently. At 
least she was so slow that the Hartford swept 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 251 

past her and took the lead. On went the flag- 
ship, under full head of steam, lashed by the iron 
hand and indomitable will of her fearless com- 
mander. Straight on — right into the first line 
of touchy, ugly, death-dealing torpedoes, any one 
of which, should she brush it at all, would have 
let loose its titanic energy and ended her career 
then and there. 

A pallor crept over the suntanned faces of her 
crew. Men who would have faced death un- 
flinchingly from a cutlass or bullet blanched at 
thought of being blown up by hundreds of 
pounds of powder that they could not see or 
locate. They glanced at their commander. 
Noting the stern, determined look upon his face, 
their white faces flushed with shame — and they 
were men again, real men ; the kind of men who, 
entirely forgetful of self, have saved many a 
nation and many a cause from being ground un- 
der the heel of defeat. 

In a silence like death, the Hartford passed 
safely through that path of deadly mines. Be- 
hind her, following her course unerringly, know- 
ing that to deviate meant disaster, her sister ships 
also came through the lane, the constant targets 
for the missiles of the enemy from the forts. 
Already the Confederate ships had been cap- 
tured or put to flight. Now the entire Union 
squadron came to anchor around their admired 



252 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

flag-ship in the upper part of the Bay, and the 
cheering of the crews rang out over the waters 
in all directions. 

Upon taking inventory of damage it was 
found that the vessels, while pretty badly torn 
of rigging, were all in very fair shape, and while 
a good many men had suffered wounds of a minor 
character, a surprisingly small number had met 
death or serious injuries. As the crew of the 
Hartford worked clearing up the decks, a cry 
suddenly arose. 

"The ram! The ram's coming!" 

Looking, they saw the ironclad of the enemy, 
which had taken refuge under the batteries of 
Fort Morgan, coming boldly and rashly forward, 
with the evident intention of attacking the squad- 
ron single-handed. 

Instantly the order was given by Farragut to 
treat the ironclad to some of her own medicine; 
and as she came up at full speed, his ship came 
at her, bow on, and gave the astonished Tennessee 
such a bunting as she had never dreamed of. 
Blow after blow was given, while the broadsides 
of the Union vessels poured against her a merci- 
less but harmless storm of grape and shrapnel. 

Not until the monitors of the squadron joined 
in the fracas did the Southerner seem to show 
any ill effects of the abuse she was receiving, 
putting up a wonderfully good fight. Harassed 



ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT 253 

by these, at last her rudder-chains were shot 
away, her smokestack was torn off, and she be- 
gan to leak from giving timbers. Admiral 
Buchanan, who had commanded her, was 
wounded in the leg. At last, badly battered and 
crippled, she ran up the white flag. 

In this manner the great fight virtually ended, 
for the forts soon capitulated, and Farragut 
gained mastery of the Bay. 



XI 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 

The sun in heaven was shining gay, 

All things were joyful on that day; 

The sea-birds screamed as they wheeled round — 

And then came the harsh note of battle sound. 

— Southey. 



Dewey at Manila Bay 

Strange as it may seem, the first blow de- 
livered by the United States in behalf of Cuba 
was struck on the other side of the globe, in 
Asiatic waters. This thump was so hard that it 
caused the eyes of the nations of Europe to pop 
wide open. To the people back home it brought 
immense satisfaction and a joy quite unspeak- 
able. 

Before the Spanish-American War the chief 
colonial possessions of Spain, excepting Cuba 
and Porto Rico, were the Philippine Islands. 
This group, of some twelve hundred separate 
bodies of sea-surrounded land, lies off the south- 
east coast of China. The largest island, Luzon, 
is about the size of the State of Kentucky. The 
Philippines had an aggregate population of per- 
haps seven millions people, chiefly Malays, though 
many of the inhabitants were of Spanish blood. 
The office-holders and tax-collectors were, of 
course, Spaniards. 

Squarely upon the natural highways of 
Oriental trade, the Islands were of enormous 
commercial importance, owing to the value of 

257 



258 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

their many mineral and vegetable products. In 
addition, their safe harbors and supplies of coal 
rendered them of great military importance. 

Spanish misrule in the form of merciless op- 
pression, cruelty, and extortion, finally festered 
the heretofore patient and uncomplaining na- 
tives into a violent insurrection — one scarcely 
less bitter than that then going on in Cuba against 
the Spaniards. Led by Aguinaldo — a young 
Filipino of considerable sagacity and a fair ed- 
ucation — thousands of irate natives became en- 
gaged, in 1897, in a bloody warfare against the 
authority of Spain. This had caused the Span- 
iards to fortify heavily the capital, Manila, which 
is situated at the head of Manila Bay, thirty-five 
miles from the open waters of the Pacific. 
Strong forts were erected at the entrance to the 
Bay, and furnished with the best modern guns 
Spain could procure. At Cavite, on the right 
side, as one enters, was established the govern- 
ment arsenal and naval station. In the city of 
Manila itself an efficient army was quartered. 

Immediately at the prospect of war with the 
United States both the force in Manila and the 
defenses along the Bay were strengthened, while 
a considerable Spanish fleet gathered to protect 
the forts. 

Under instructions from his Government at 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 259 

Washington, Commodore George Dewey had 
gathered at Hong-Kong — about six hundred 
miles from the Philippines — the greater part of 
the United States warships then in the Pacific 
Ocean. By the 19th of April, 1898, — the day 
Congress passed its resolutions of war — the fleet 
consisted of the Olympia, the Boston, the Con- 
cord, the Raleigh, and the Petrel. On that day 
the jackies began to put on them their war-uni- 
forms of slate color, wielding their brushes as 
fast as they could. Three days later, while this 
work of painting was still under way, the Balti- 
more came into port from Yokohama. She had 
no thought of losing her part in the expedition, 
so, with characteristic energy and speed, her of- 
ficers and sailors in the following forty-eight 
hours had put her in drydock, and scraped, re- 
paired, painted, coaled, provisioned, and other- 
wise made her ready for the grim business of 
war. 

Everything was ship-shape by the 24th, and 
the Pacific fleet headed away from Hong-Kong 
with bands playing and cheers ringing after them 
from the American and English residents of the 
Chinese port. Commodore Dewey led the pro- 
cession in the battleship Olympia. Accompany- 
ing the fleet were the revenue-cutter Hugh Mc- 
Culloch, as a dispatch-boat, and two merchant 



260 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

vessels carrying ten thousand tons of coal. On 
the decks and in the tops were seventeen hundred 
lusty, strong-hearted American boys — as fine a 
lot of adventure-loving young seamen as ever 
roamed the seas. 

And yet the number of Spanish vessels in 
Manila Bay exceeded considerably the number of 
American craft going to meet them. Most of 
the latter, too, were cruisers, having far less 
armament power than battleships. While they 
would have an equal number of enemy ships of 
their type to face, the smaller craft would be 
largely outnumbered. With this situation 
against them, the American vessels also would 
have to contend against the formidable Spanish 
forts at the mouth of the harbor, the batteries 
and arsenal at Cavite, further in, submerged 
mines, and the fortifications and troops of the 
city of Manila. Despite these very real perils, 
the American tars sailed on with the greatest en- 
thusiasm. 

It was on Saturday morning, the 30th of April, 
that they sighted the Island of Luzon. A sup- 
pressed excitement ran throughout the fleet; 
everybody was astir, and eyes searched the dis- 
tant waters for a speck of land which at that time 
only the officers with their powerful glasses could 
discern. As the ships sped on, the decks were 
sanded, and preparations for conflict renewed, 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 261 

everything that might catch fire in battle being 
tossed overboard or put in the hold. 

No sight of the Spanish ships was caught that 
day, and the officers became certain that they 
were harboring in the calm waters of the Bay, 
safely behind the network of submarine torpedoes 
and under the wing of the Spanish fortifications. 
At five o'clock the different captains were called 
aboard the Olympia for consultation and final 
orders. It was decided that the hour of twelve, 
midnight, would be best for making a dash past 
the forts at the entrance to the harbor, in order 
to be ready for an engagement at daylight. The 
problem was to find the enemy just at daybreak 
and not before. 

The early part of the night was cloudy and 
dark, ideal for the purpose in view. No lights 
were allowed except one at the stern of each ves- 
sel, covered on all sides save the rear, for the 
guidance of the ship that was following, and no 
word was to be spoken or movement made unless 
by the orders of the commanders. At eleven 
o'clock the crews were called to quarters to be 
ready for an emergency, and at midnight the 
ships, in single column with the Olympia leading, 
commenced the perilous passage. 

The forts at the entrance of the Bay were 
upon Corregidor Island, six hundred feet above 
the water level ; and at El Fraile, on the opposite 



262 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

side. The channel on one side is one mile wide ; 
on the other, five miles wide. The entrance of 
the Americans was made by the wider passage, 
and between the forts. 

As the fleet went by the island, a rocket shot 
up into the sky from the fort on the hill, showing 
that they had been discovered. Almost instantly 
other rockets flashed along the shore line. It 
was supposed that these warnings of the enemy 
would be followed by an immediate attack from 
the Krupp guns of the shore batteries, but such 
was not the case. All was silence. Evidently 
these defenses, confident in the prowess of the 
Spanish fleet to annihilate the invaders, thought 
they would relegate the task of destroying the 
Americans to their own vessels. 

Thus the Yankee ships moved forward till op- 
posite the second fort, which was situated upon 
a small island near the shore. This defense 
proved more aggressive than those preceding it. 
There was a bright flash in the darkness sur- 
rounding it, the heavy boom of a gun, the scream 
of a shell overhead. Another, and still another 
shot came screeching through the air toward the 
procession of American ships. 

At the last shot, the Raleigh, which was third 
in line, replied with a five-inch shell that sent 
mortar flying, and the Concord and the Boston, 
coming next, each in turn opened fire. The 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 263 

Shells from the shore batteries fell wide of the 
mark. On the other hand, with the first enemy 
flash the Yankee gunners had the spot well 
marked, and presently placed a six-inch shell so 
accurately that it penetrated the defense, killing 
outright one officer and forty-one men, and si- 
lencing the battery completely. 

The night wore away slowly as the fleet ad- 
vanced in cautious formation, feeling their way 
along the unknown passage toward the city. 
Toward morning the moon broke through the 
clouds. All the time the finishing touches for 
action with the enemy ships were being applied 
with energy. The men were instructed once 
more in their duties, the decks were again sanded, 
the boats were covered with canvas to prevent 
their being splintered by flying shell, the am- 
munition hoists were wound with cable-chains, 
the guns were gone over very carefully, the sur- 
geons gave their final directions to their assist- 
ants, the carpenters saw that their mates stood 
ready with emergency repairs, and in fact every- 
thing was done that American wit and industry 
could do to get ready for serious action. 

The lights of Manila came in sight early, and 
were used by Dewey as beacons of guidance in 
the forward movement. At dawn the fleet was 
about four miles from the city, and breakfast of 
hardtack and coffee was served at once to the 
hungry crews. 



264 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

It was a Sunday — that day of peace with civil- 
ized mankind when, singular as it is, most of the 
world's important battles seem to have been 
fought to a conclusion. At a little past five the 
forts on the Manila shore, and at Cavite, just op- 
posite, began to open up; but their projectiles 
fell a half-mile short of the fleet. No reply was 
made; Commodore Dewey, on the bridge of the 
Olympia, had his plans, and nothing could divert 
him. While the dispatch-boat McCulloch stopped 
in the middle of the Bay, the cruisers passed on in 
single file, swung around to the right, and, under 
full steam, made straight toward the arsenal at 
Cavite and the Spanish fleet which could be seen 
anchored there. 

By this time the fire from the forts and the 
enemy ships, each of the latter bearing aloft great 
battle-flags of red and gold, was very heavy, the 
reverberations from the powerful Spanish guns 
echoing and reechoing across the waters of the 
Bay from headland to headland. But still their 
shells fell short. Either they were low of range, 
or their weapons were not of sufficient power to 
carry up. 

The American gunners stood by their pieces 
with smiling, tense faces, as their ships pressed 
onward as straight as an arrow toward the en- 
emy. Presently from the Olympia this signal 
was raised: "Fire as convenient." As restless 




m ftj 




II 



si 

W Iff J 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 265 

as every man was .to discharge his piece, the of- 
ficers still shook their heads. When the range- 
finder showed two miles, Dewey turned to the 
captain of his ship and said the historic words: 
"When you are ready you may fire, Mr. Gridley." 

Captain Gridley, quite ready, quickly passed 
the order ; and in a moment the eager gunners be- 
fore the eight-inch guns in the forward turret 
of the flag-ship were aiming and discharging 
their pieces with thunderous roars which were 
but signals for a general storm of missiles from 
the other ships, all directed toward the vessels 
of the Spanish fleet in front of Cavite. Every 
port battery, within a few minutes, had unloosed 
its burden of deadly lead and iron. The air was 
full of shells and smoke. To give the gunners a 
better chance, the speed was slowed down. 

As soon as all had passed the anchored Span- 
ish ships, the line swung round, and returned 
slowly over the same course, this time firing the 
starboard batteries. Spouts of water could be 
seen flying up all about the Spaniards' ships as 
the shots fell in their midst. Suddenly, not more 
than eight hundred yards ahead of the Olympia 
there was a dull rumble below the sea, and a 
geyser shot up high in the air. A submarine 
mine had exploded prematurely — probably as the 
result of a wild enemy shot striking it. 

At this juncture the Spanish flag-ship, the 



266 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Reina Crisiina, slipped her mooring and charged 
directly at the Olympia, like a maddened panther. 
But the guns of all the fleet were instantly turned 
upon her, and the marksmanship of the cool- 
headed American gunners, used to hitting much 
more difficult targets, did not fail. In a few min- 
utes the Spanish ship was in flames, with great 
holes torn in her hull and half her rigging shot 
away. Turning about with difficulty she at- 
tempted to flee back to her consorts. But even 
as she headed for shelter, the trained eye of a 
gunner on the Olympia' s forward deck was glanc- 
ing along his great steel pet; there was a heavy 
roar, and a terrible projectile struck the Span- 
iard's stern and crashed clear through, sweeping 
to the very bow, and dropping the captain and 
more than sixty of his men. 

Admiral Montojo and his men escaped as best 
they could from the sinking ship in her boats, 
the former transferring his flag to the Isla de 
Cuba. But no sooner had he run up his ad- 
miral's emblem upon this ship than she imme- 
diately became the new target for the resistless 
American batteries. The result was, soon she 
too was burning and in a sinking condition. 
Angered almost to distraction the Spanish com- 
mander-in-chief once more had to find new quar- 
ters, whereupon he at once ordered two of his 
torpedo-destroyers to go out and do to the 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 267 

Olympia what he himself had been unable to ac- 
complish. 

The Spanish destroyers, lying low in the water, 
going at great speed, soon come within seven 
hundred yards of the Olympia. She is in easy 
reach of the deadly torpedoes, and a big target ; 
the Spanish gunners can hardly fail to get at 
least one into her. The dark eyes of the Span- 
ish officers and crew glint with triumph. The 
captains put their lips to the speaking tubes to 
give the chief gunners the word to fire. But 
they are too late. Already the secondary bat- 
teries and rapid-fire guns of the Yankees are be- 
ginning to bark, and the well-aimed shot to strike 
the destroyers. From one of the latter there 
arises a great puff of white as an internal ex- 
plosion shakes her from bow to stern; and she 
drops under the waves forever. The other 
Spaniard, sorely crippled, fires a tube hastily and 
the torpedo cuts a white line harmlessly across 
the bow of the Olympia, while the destroyer 
makes about and struggles frantically toward 
shore. There on the beach she will be found 
after all is over, pierced, shattered, and bloody. 

Now the American fleet turn again and steam 
back to bring their guns to bear on the other side. 
This time it is the Spanish ships Don Antonio 
de Ulloa and Castillo which become the victims 
of their merciless aim; the enemy ships, fright- 
fully torn, soon sink. 



268 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Although they ought to be tired out by this 
time, the Yankee gunners seem to be gaining in 
the precision of their fire, the accuracy of which 
is wonderful to behold — as if they were at target 
practice and in no danger themselves. The sniff 
of victory is in their nostrils; the remarkable 
triumph they are gaining lifts them above such 
a sordid weakness as exhaustion; the spirit con- 
tinues the fight with sublime indifference to the 
whims of the physical being. 

Presently, to the surprise of the rest of the 
fleet, the Olympia draws out of line. What is 
the matter? Has she been struck? Does she 
feel the necessity of immediate repairs? But no 
— as she comes near some of the ships in moving 
out, and their crews cheer her, and her own crew 
cheers as heartily back, every consort feels re- 
assured. Now from her masthead flies the 
signal to withdraw and serve breakfast. 

It is half-past seven, and the fight has raged 
for more than two hours. Even as the men 
gather round the tables to partake hungrily- of 
food those on deck can see several enemy ves- 
sels burning, and a fire in the Arsenal. While 
the eating goes on, the officers hastily make a 
close inspection of their vessels, noting the dam- 
age done and the condition of the ammunition. 
The captains are called to the flag-ship, from 
whence they soon return with the cheering news 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 269 

that not a man has been killed and only a half- 
dozen wounded. A great cheer goes up; and a 
greater one still, when announcement is made 
that the attack will be renewed and the battle 
fought to a finish without further delay. 

Shortly before eleven o'clock the signal comes 
to advance once more. The plan of battle has 
been changed. The Spanish ships have been so 
badly used up that they are practically out of the 
fight. Now, instead of the American fleet mov- 
ing up and down in front of the enemy forts and 
vessels, and firing as they go, orders are to go 
directly toward the ships, stop for range, then 
choose a mark and make sure that it is struck. 

First goes the Baltimore. Her engines work- 
ing at capacity, the black smoke fairly rolls from 
her stacks, and she trembles from end to end un- 
der the mighty impulse of her own mechanical 
power. In a short time she has almost disap- 
peared in her smoke. Then her huge guns begin 
to thunder, followed, as she draws in, by the 
lighter and shriller staccato of her rapid-fire bat- 
tery. 

The men behind, on other decks, tremble 
eagerly as they await their turn. Now they 
watch the Olympia, which, twenty minutes later, 
takes up the trail of the Baltimore. Following, 
the Boston gets under way, with a cheer from 
her own and the other crews. Then the Raleigh 



270 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

and the Concord drop in. Last to go forward 
is the little Petrel. But it is not through choice, 
you may well believe. Drawing less water than 
her consorts, this small ship runs close in under 
the frowning parapets of the fort, fires a furious 
broadside, wheels and fires the other, dashes 
nimbly away, returns and repeats the process — 
until the fort has been crumbled in many places 
and is seen to be in flames. 

Meantime the sister ships of the "baby battle- 
ship," — as she is lovingly dubbed — have not 
been idle. By one o'clock all the larger Spanish 
ships have been put out of action, and the re- 
maining forts disabled or left burning. Five 
minutes later the little Petrel, dashing in once 
more, signals the Commodore that the enemy has 
struck his colors at Cavite and has raised a white 
flag. 

The fight had now been completely won. The 
firing ceased, and the crews climbed the rigging 
to cheer and cheer again till they were hoarse the 
marvelous victory they had won seven thousand 
miles from any American soil. The exultation 
was all the more enthusiastic because no addi- 
tional casualties had been endured in the second 
stage of action. As for the Olympia, she had 
been struck thirteen different times, and not one 
of the other vessels had entirely escaped, but the 
damage in every case was not very serious. 



DEWEY AT MANILA BAY 271 

It was a battle in which scientific skill had had 
more to do with the result than any other factor. 
The Spaniards clearly showed a lack of the high 
training that had been the lot of the American 
seamen; while every one of the latter's shots 
seemed to find its mark, the projectiles of the en- 
emy usually went wide. 



XII 
THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 

She struck where the white and fleecy waves 

Looked soft as carded wool, 
But the cruel rocks they gored her sides 

Like the horns of an angry bull. 

— Longfellow. 



The Battle of Santiago Harbor 

hobson's daring exploit 

When the blowing up of the United States 
battleship Maine precipitated a declaration of 
war, on April 21st, 1898, between America and 
Spain, the Atlantic squadron, under Rear-Ad- 
miral Sampson, immediately proceeded to the is- 
land of Cuba and stretched a cordon of blockad- 
ing ships around it. A little later it was heard 
that the Spanish admiral, Cervera, had sailed 
from Spain with a formidable fleet. Taking his 
vessels with him, Sampson went forth to meet the 
enemy, but failing, finally returned to Cuba after 
a long and baffling search. It was only to find 
that while he had been in the neighborhood of 
Key West, and Commodore Schley had been 
watching the southern coast of the Island, Cer- 
vera had very neatly slipped into Santiago harbor 
with his ships. 

There was nothing for the Americans to do 
now but make the best of the disappointing situa- 
tion, and proceed to close up the neck of the bottle 
into which the Spanish admiral had chosen to 
take his fleet. By the last week of May both 

275 



276 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

American commanders were present. Schley's 
command embraced his flag-ship, the Brooklyn, 
the Massachusetts, the Texas, the Iowa, the 
Marblehead, the Minneapolis, the Castine — bat- 
tleships and cruisers; and the torpedo-destroyer 
Dupont. He also had with him the auxiliary- 
cruiser St. Paul, the coaling-ship Merrimac, and 
several smaller craft. Sampson's flotilla com- 
prised the flag-ship New York, battleship 
Oregon, cruiser New Orleans, several auxiliary 
vessels and torpedo-destroyers. 

To make certain that there had been no mis- 
take, and that all the Spanish ships were really 
in the harbor, Lieutenant Victor Blue made a 
daring reconnoissance. Braving the threatening 
guns of the formidable fort of Morro Castle at 
the head of the harbor, and risking a sniper's 
shot, Blue climbed one of the hills and counted 
one by one the enemy's vessels as they lay in 
the sheltered waters behind the protecting mines, 
about half way between the city of Santiago and 
the mouth of the bay. He presently returned in 
the small boat that had taken him, and reported 
five cruisers and two torpedo-destroyers. 

The situation now was this: The Spanish 
fleet was indeed besieged; it might dash for 
liberty, but this was unlikely in view of the fact 
that the Yankee ships were more numerous and 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 2.^ 

individually as powerful in armament. On the 
the other hand the besiegers were unable to get 
in and force a quick conclusion, owing to the al- 
most impregnable defenses of the enemy; there 
were the frowning battlements of Morro Castle, 
high on its cliff on the one side, and on the other 
the heavy battery of Socapa on lower ground; 
there were the deadly mines that stretched across 
the channel, just below the water level, which 
could not be threaded without disaster except by 
those who had the key to their location. 

For several days the American ships bom- 
barded the Spanish forts at the mouth of the 
harbor. But while Socapa was badly damaged, 
the elevation of Morro Castle was so great and 
its structure so massive that the hardest fire of 
the Yankees failed to destroy any of its protect- 
ing batteries. 

Reluctantly the blockaders withdrew out of 
range, and Sampson and Schley held a consulta- 
tion. They decided that the aid of the army was 
necessary; that a force by land was required to 
capture the fortifications before they could coun- 
termine the channel with mine-sweepers, steam 
in, and engage the timid Spanish fleet. As a re- 
sult of this conference, General Shafter was or- 
dered by the Government to land troops, and with 
the aid of the friendly Cubans, advance on the 
forts about the bay. 



278 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

While this land operation was being put under 
way, it was decided by the naval commanders to 
attempt to make the blockade more effective by 
sinking in the channel the coal-ship Merrimac. 
The collier was nearly as long as the width of 
the watercourse at one point. If she could be 
successfully sent to the bottom here, laden with 
coal, there would be little probability of the en- 
emy ships being able to get out if they wished. 
This would relieve in some measure the vigilance 
of the blockading squadrons, and allow some of 
the vessels to be withdrawn for needed service 
elsewhere. Who would volunteer? The mis- 
sion not only required a cool head and stout 
heart, and high excellence in seamanship — for 
the whole operation would have to be performed 
directly under the guns of Socapa and Morro 
Castle — but there was not one chance in a thou- 
sand of the ones who undertook it ever return- 
ing. Volunteering, the officers frankly stated to 
their men when they assembled them, was almost 
equivalent to signing away one's life. 

Yet there were more applicants for this des- 
perate mission than could have been used on a 
dozen such undertakings! To Richmond P. 
Hobson, a young naval-constructor, was given 
the coveted position of leader. To assist him 
seven other young sailors were chosen. 

Very early in the morning of June 3d, just 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 279 

after the moon had set, and a good half-hour 
before dawn, the gallant little crew took their 
positions on the old collier. They had discarded 
all their outer garments, wearing only under- 
clothes. About his waist each man carried a belt 
containing a revolver and knife, while under his 
arms circled a life-preserver. Thousands of 
comrades' eyes, on the decks behind, peered anx- 
iously through the gloom as the Merrimac slowly 
and quietly steamed toward the mouth of the 
harbor, so heavily burdened that the waters 
lapped almost to her deck. Not a light did she 
bear, and her dauntless little crew spoke only in 
whispers as they hovered in the deepest shadows 
of her structure that their tasks of guidance 
would permit. 

All at once, from away up there on the dark 
cliff just ahead, a red flare bursts into the night 
— then another, and another. And accompany- 
ing each flash there comes a shattering roar, 
while demons of iron and steel that they cannot 
see screech overhead and plunge into the sea be- 
yond. Rockets are now shooting up from both 
shores. From across the waters other big guns 
belch forth their charges, and the hail of life- 
taking missiles increases in their small area. 
Hundreds of jets, white and glistening, leap up 
from the channel all about them as the shrapnel 
strikes. Now a broad path of light stretches 



280 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

from Morro Castle across the inky heavens; it 
slowly drops, bathes the rugged hills on the other 
side of the harbor in its pallid glow, then, like a 
restless finger, swings lower still, creeping here 
and there over the waters of the channel, halting 
a moment searchingly, and going on till it finally 
rests its brilliant beams upon the moving shape 
of the old collier. It is war's latest weapon — 
the electric searchlight, the very thing the eight 
young Yankees on the Merrimac have been hop- 
ing will not be used upon them. 

Now they lie, vividly outlined, in a vortex of 
strong light. Involuntarily those on deck shrink 
closer to the protecting objects nearest them, for 
they know what is coming. But steadfast their 
hearts and hands hold to the purpose before them ; 
there is not the slightest quaver in the voice of 
Hobson as he issues in low tones his orders ; not 
the least nervousness in the hand of the pilot, nor 
the engineer and his helpers, nor the deckhands. 
Even as the big guns of the enemy begin to 
thunder faster — into an almost continuous 
crash — and the sprinkle of shot about them de- 
velops into a blinding cloudburst of shrapnel, 
ripping holes in hull and through smokestack, 
they keep on with set teeth, praying that they 
may be permitted to reach the narrows before 
death comes. 

Their prayer is granted. As by a miracle the 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 281 

Merrimac is steered, without a man perishing, to 
the appointed spot. But just as Hobson gives 
the order to swing her across the channel for 
sinking, an enemy shot tears away the rudder 
with a shuddering smash. At the same moment 
her stern anchor, cut clean, plunges to the bot- 
tom. 

It is now impossible to hold the collier long 
enough to sink her just in the way intended. In- 
stead of holding straight across the channel, the 
rudderless craft begins to swing back in line 
with the current, and to go drifting into wider 
waters. Like a mad antelope, young Hobson 
springs to the buttons which connect with the 
electric batteries that will explode the mines in the 
hold and send the collier to the bottom. 

As he touches the buttons there are two muffled 
explosions on one side of the ship; but there are 
none on the other, and he realizes that the fire 
of the enemy has damaged the batteries on that 
side. Hobson is greatly disappointed; he is 
afraid that the Merrimac will not sink at once, 
as planned. 

He is right. While the enemy shots have 
opened her up, and helped her to take in water 
quite rapidly, the side with the unexploded mines 
rides high, and she continues to drift into wider 
waters as she slowly settles. Hobson and his 
comrades know only too well that it will be death 



282 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

to spring overboard right now in that terrible rain 
of shot. Far better will it be to wait till the 
collier is on the very verge of going down ; then 
perhaps the firing will cease, or they will be out 
of range, and their swim will have some chance 
of resulting in personal safety. 

At last comes the end. Dipping her head deep 
beneath the waves, and throwing her stern high 
in the air, the collier suddenly dives for the bot- 
tom. Through the whirlpool of rushing waters, 
fearful of the final suction, the men fight their 
way to the raft which the ship has been towing, 
and which has been released at the final moment. 
Not a man is lost. 

Dawn found them all huddled on the raft, 
where they had sought a compulsory rest of ach- 
ing muscles. As the first rays of day swept away 
the night the vigilant Spaniards saw them. In a 
very short time a steam-launch appeared filled 
with the dark faces of the foe. In the very front 
stood an officer of apparent high grade. 

"Is there any officer on board that boat to re- 
ceive the surrender of prisoners of war?" called 
Hobson, rising. 

For answer a dozen Mausers were leveled at 
him and his comrades. Bravely they faced the 
rifles, expecting to see them spout out their death 
shots for them. But an angry command came 
from the man in the bow, and the rifles dropped. 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 283 

It was Admiral Cervera, of the Spanish fleet. 
The little band of Americans were taken to his 
flag-ship, and in the afternoon Cervera sent an 
officer under a flag of truce to Admiral Sampson. 
The messenger gravely handed the American 
commander a note which apprised him of the 
safety of his eight men, then added: "Daring 
like theirs makes the bitterest enemy proud that 
his fellowmen can be such heroes!" It was a 
wonderful tribute from the leader of the enemy to 
Richmond Hobson and his valiant companions. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA S FLEET 

For five weeks the combined squadrons of Ad- 
miral Sampson and Commodore Schley had been 
riding at the mouth of Santiago Bay — waiting, 
always waiting, and hoping, for the moment when 
the trying routine of watching would be dropped 
for the roar and dash of a great naval engage- 
ment with the choicest ships of Spain, bottled 
up in the harbor. In the meantime the American 
army under General Shafter had been slowing 
but surely working its way up behind the city of 
Santiago, and now — on Sunday morning of the 
3d of July — rested on their arms, for a brief mo- 
ment before undertaking the difficult onslaught 
upon the city itself. 



284 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

In the squadrons you would have found the 
armored-cruiser Brooklyn, capable of twenty-one 
knots an hour, and serving as the flag-ship of 
Commodore Schley, the same Schley who years 
before took out of the Arctic snows the dying 
survivors of the ill-fated Greely expedition and 
brought them home. There was the first-class 
battleship Oregon, fresh from her long journey 
of fifteen thousand miles from Puget Sound, 
around Cape Horn; and her sister ship the In- 
diana — both with their eighteen-inch walls of 
steelplate and their heavy thirteen-inch guns 
which throw a projectile five miles, and require 
for it more than five hundred pounds of powder 
and three times that weight in metal, at a cost 
of close to six hundred dollars per discharge. 
There was the big battleship Iowa, with "Fight- 
ing Bob" Evans in command; and the Texas, 
called the "hoodoo ship" by her crew because of 
the many misfortunes befalling her. There was 
also the battleship Massachusetts, with her 
powerful twinscrews and great speed, and crew 
of over four hundred men. Besides these 
greater ships, there were a number of sleek-look- 
ing cruisers, torpedo-destroyers, and converted 
warships. 

Admiral Sampson, first in command of all the 
flotilla, was absent for the first time during the 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 285 

blockade. Under the orders of President Mc- 
Kinley he had steamed a few miles east with the 
New York to confer with General Shafter upon 
a matter of importance. He had said just as he 
was leaving, "If I go away something will hap- 
pen." Nor was he mistaken. Something did 
happen — something he would have given his 
right hand to have been present to meet ! 

This Sunday morning you are introduced to, 
opened up not unlike most of the others the fleet 
had experienced during the past month. The 
sun was brazen and hot ; the water calm. Across 
on the high promontory at the entrance to the 
harbor stood Morro Castle, silent, mediaeval, 
grim. Over its battlements of gray masonry 
flew a couple of gulls, giving no indication of the 
noisome dungeons in which many an inhuman 
execution has taken place just below, nor telling 
of the ravenous sharks which inhabit the waters 
at the base of the cliff, ready to seize the first 
morsel of flesh that should come their way, be it 
animal or human — sharks which have been quick 
to destroy for an age the butchered evidence of 
Spanish cruelty. 

By nine o'clock the American sailors were 
rigged out in clean white middies and trousers, 
ready for inspection and religious service. 

A half-hour later, just as the bugle on the 



286 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Oregon sounded for chaplain's assembly, the of- 
ficer on the forward bridge of the Brooklyn called 
out through his megaphone: "After bridge 
there! Report to the Commodore and the cap- 
tain that the enemy's ships are coming out !" 

Almost with his words the boom of a gun on 
the Iowa attracted attention to a string of little 
flags going up her mizzen-rigging, which said: 
"The enemy's ships are escaping to the west- 
ward." 

Needless to say, in an instant everything on 
board the Yankee ships was in a commotion. 
The chaplain was forgotten, Sunday was forgot- 
ten — every sailor's ear was pricked to catch the 
first order of officer, and his feet and hands held 
poised to obey it like lightning. Every ship fairly 
pulsed with excitement as well as action. Yet, 
in spite of the suddenness of the long-hoped-for 
announcement, in spite of the hundreds of men 
that hurried here and there over the decks and 
in the rigging, there was no sign of disorder or 
confusion. With perfect precision and wonder- 
ful system the machinery of preparation for pur- 
suit and battle was set in motion, and clicked 
swiftly and smoothly on. 

In less than five minutes after the first word of 
the coming of Cervera's fleet every anchor was 
up, every gun manned, and the American ships 
began to move toward the enemy who could be 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 287 

seen coming out of the harbor at full speed, work- 
ing off toward the westward as if to attempt es- 
cape into the sea in that direction. 

Meanwhile the New York, which it will be re- 
membered carried Admiral Sampson along the 
coast to the eastward, had just reached its desti- 
nation, seven miles distant, and was about to land 
its commander, when the sound of the Iozva's 
heavy gun was heard. Then, as the American 
ships were seen to be getting under headway, 
Sampson surmised that the enemy had at last ap- 
peared, and ordered his flag-ship back under all 
speed. 

To the men of the fleet the increasing clouds of 
black smoke in the harbor showed beyond the 
shadow of a doubt that every one of Admiral 
Cervera's vessels was with him in the desperate 
dash of the Spaniards for liberty. Soon the of- 
ficers of the foremost Yankee ships could make 
out with their glasses the flag-ship of the enemy 
— the Maria Teresa — which was leading. She 
was the first of her flotilla to thrust her nose out 
of the opening into the sea. Following closely 
behind her, in good order, were the other arm- 
ored-cruisers of Spain, consisting of the Viscaya, 
the Cristobal Colon, the Almirante Oquendo; and 
the torpedo-destroyers, the Pluton and the Furor. 
The foe craft were from eight hundred to twelve 
hundred yards apart, and it was fully fifteen min- 



288 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

utes before the last of them had passed the cape 
at the harbor's mouth. As they did so, they 
turned squarely west. 

They were now within good long range of the 
Americans, who were approaching as fast as 
steam could carry them. The Spaniards were 
first to fire. As they flew on they let go their 
near batteries of heavy guns, to which the Yankee 
fleet made instant reply. While practically all 
of the enemy's shots went wild, some of the shells 
of the Americans were seen to find marks. In 
a few minutes the Yankee gunners had obtained 
a still more accurate range, and the debris of 
the foe began to litter the water in their wake. 

But not all of the shots of the Spaniards were 
thrown away. As the Americans began to over- 
haul the enemy his own aim grew more accurate, 
and a number of the pursuers endured minor 
strikes. Among these was the Brooklyn, which, 
taking probably the most prominent and exposed 
part in the fight, suffered greatest. When the 
Americans had closed up rather well an enemy 
shell hurtled fairly against the muzzle of one of 
the Brooklyn's big guns on the engaged side, and 
wedged itself in the bore in such a manner that 
the weapon was temporarily rendered useless. 

A few minutes later the flag at the masthead of 
the Brooklyn was carried away by a shot from 
the Viscaya. Without hesitation a sailor jumped 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 289 

overboard and rescued the emblem, risking shot 
and the sharks that infested the waters. When 
he was picked up he insisted on being allowed to 
replace the flag, which he did by nailing it to the 
spar after a perilous climb. 

From the first the Brooklyn had realized that 
this was to be a fighting chase in which she must 
lead. She steamed at the Spanish flag-ship un- 
der full head. Perhaps her commander recalled 
that the Viscaya had been a rival of the Brook- 
lyn's at the Jubilee of Queen Victoria the year be- 
fore. Be that as it may, she soon overhauled the 
Spaniard, then sweeping by fired her port broad- 
side into him; wheeled about, and coming back 
gave him the other broadside. The efTect of 
these shots was most disastrous to the enemy. 
His hull was pierced in several places, his rigging 
torn away, some of his best guns dismantled, 
while many dead and wounded littered his 
deck, and fire began its consuming work in his 
hold. 

While this was going on the two Spanish tor- 
pedo-destroyers, the Furor and the Pluton, bent 
on protecting their flag-ship, were making madly 
for the Brooklyn. The sharp eyes of Lieuten- 
ant-Commander Richard Wainwright were on 
them, however. He sped his little converted- 
yacht Gloucester with rare and amazing cour- 
age straight into the breach, bent upon heading 



290 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

off the two enemy destroyers and diverting their 
attention till assistance should come. 

Running in at close range, Wainwright, who 
had been a former officer of the ill-fated Maine, 
worked his small rapid-firing guns with a vigor 
and accuracy that confused the Pluton and Furor. 
In a very few minutes the three ships were en- 
veloped in the clouds of their own gun smoke, at 
times completely hidden from friend and foe. As 
the curtain raised once, the American saw a signal 
from the Brooklyn for him to save himself and 
draw out of danger, but rilled with the ardor of 
the fight — perhaps bent upon vengeance, with the 
Nation's rallying cry of "Remember the Maine!" 
ringing in his ears — Wainwright for once in his 
life ignored a superior's command, and continued 
to wage his relentless warfare with a fury that 
bewildered the Spaniards and amazed the Yankee 
fleet. 

Finally a well-placed shot was sent almost 
through the Pluton, crippling her so badly that 
she began to take in water at a terrifying rate. 
Noting the helplessness of her sister ship, the 
Furor now turned and made off. Several times 
she sought refuge behind the cruisers of her fleet, 
only to be driven forth by the insatiable little 
American ship which pounded shot into protec- 
tor and protected indiscriminately until they were 
apart, when she would once more give her whole 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 291 

attention to the frightened destroyer. At length, 
looking more like a sieve than a respectable Span- 
ish destroyer, the Furor plunged limpingly for 
shore. She soon struck a reef, and went under 
the rolling surf. Wainwright's crew managed to 
rescue most of the survivors, also those on board 
the other torpedo-destroyer. In all only twenty- 
four Spanish sailors were saved from the two 
ships, one hundred and twenty having perished. 

Meanwhile the other American ships had not 
been idle. The Maria Teresa and the Oquendo 
were on fire, and, badly riddled, had run aground 
on the shore six miles west of the harbor. A 
later examination showed that one had been 
struck thirty-three times, and the other sixty- 
seven times. This speaks eloquently of the high 
quality of the American marksmanship. 

By eleven o'clock the Viscaya, adopting the 
tactics of her other surrendered consorts, ran for 
land fifteen miles above the harbor and beached 
her scarred and shattered hulk upon the rocks. 
Like them she was on fire, and fearing an early 
explosion of her magazine, her crew had sought 
to get off before it came. Now scores of the 
sailors could be seen springing into the sea, and 
swimming and wading through the breakers, 
many being dashed to death against the rocks by 
the heavy surf. 

As quickly as they could the American boats 



292 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

went to the rescue of the hapless enemy. As the 
Texas passed by one of the stranded Spanish 
ships, some of her crew started to cheer, but Cap- 
tain Philip, with fine chivalry and compassion, 
told them not to cheer a victory when the van- 
quished were helplessly dying. The Iowa and 
the Ericsson now took off those who had remained 
aboard the Maria Teresa and the Oqucndo, while 
the Gloucester received those on the Viscaya. 
Among the latter survivors was Admiral Cervera 
himself. He was naturally greatly crestfallen, 
but Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright treated 
him with every courtesy and did everything pos- 
sible for his comfort, not forgetting how the gal- 
lant Spanish admiral had dealt with Hobson and 
his men when in his power. 

While all this was transpiring, the Spanish 
ship Cristobal Colon had succeeded in pushing on 
out of the thickest of the fight, hoping to make 
good her own -escape at least. She was the best 
and fastest of the enemy vessels. When the 
Viscaya went ashore, the fleetness of the Colon 
had placed her fully six miles ahead, and as soon 
as she realized the fate of the Viscaya she made 
greater efforts than ever to put a long distance 
between herself and the nearest American ves- 
sels. 

The Brooklyn, the Oregon, the Texas, and the 
Vixen now started in pursuit. It was a won- 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 293 

derful race. Never will it be forgotten by any 
of the crews taking part in it. The powerful 
engines of the Brooklyn quickly made it possible 
for her to lead the way; but soon the Oregon, 
using choice Cardiff coal saved for just such an 
emergency, was puffing along a close second. It 
is doubtful if ever before the boilers of these two 
American warships had been so filled with glow- 
ing coals. In the boiler-rooms the heat was al- 
most insufferable, soon mounting to a hundred 
and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Stripped to the 
waist, with grimy, touseled hair, and faces like 
beets in their color, the stokers threw shovelful 
after shovelful of black diamonds into the fiery 
maws before them, getting little chance to rest, 
so fast was the fuel devoured in making that im- 
mense amount of steam under which the engines 
were throbbing till the very decks vibrated. It 
was no uncommon thing to see a fireman faint. 
At one time in the hold of the Oregon several of 
them were stretched out at once. It was then 
that the engineer called out to the captain, as 
attempts were made to revive them: "If these 
fellows can only hear a few guns they will come 
up smiling!" Really it was these sweaty, coal- 
smeared stokers who won that race and the vic- 
tory attending it. No hero ever worked harder, 
more valiantly for his country, than they. 

As the Colon saw her pursuers gaining 



294 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

steadily, she began hugging in toward the shore, 
evidently with the intention of beaching herself 
if no other escape offered. At this the American 
ships made a shortcut on a diagonal course, aim- 
ing for a projecting headland some distance in 
front of the Spaniard and which he must pass if 
he continued onward. There was no firing yet. 
The Yankees were so confident now in overhaul- 
ing the chased craft that it was thought best to 
get closer before sending in a shell. 

By this time the Brooklyn and the Oregon had 
pulled so far away from their consorts that they 
were often hidden from view by the heavy clouds 
of smoke curling in their wake. Presently a 
flash was seen at the stern of the enemy, and a 
shell screamed toward the Americans. A few 
moments later there was another. But both 
shots fell far short. 

A little later, when Commodore Schley was 
told by his navigator that the distance between 
the Colon and the Oregon was but eight thousand 
five hundred yards, or five miles, he signaled to 
the Oregon, just behind him, to try a thirteen- 
inch shell on the enemy. Instantly the battle- 
ship complied, the missile falling a little short. 
Again the order came. The muzzle was elevated 
a trifle more, and once more the big gun crashed. 
But this time the water spouted up beyond the 
Colon. The third shot was better. It was a fair 



BATTLE OF SANTIAGO HARBOR 295 

strike, cutting off a portion of the Spaniard's rig- 
ging as clean as a sharp knife severs a pine stick. 
Now the Brooklyn sent in several shots, followed 
by more from the Oregon. 

At this juncture the Colon was seen to be run- 
ning for shore, with her colors struck. She had 
given up the fight. Forty-two miles from San- 
tiago harbor this running fight had reached. As 
she drew in toward land and shallow water, her 
crew scuttled her and she began rapidly to fill and 
sink. But by this time the New York had come 
up, and pushed her in till she settled on the beach. 
Thus was the purpose of her crew to destroy her 
defeated by the quick action of their captors. 

In all, four hundred Spaniards had lost their 
lives in this sea fight, while about sixteen hundred 
had been taken prisoners. On the American side 
only one man had lost his life — a most remarka- 
ble result considering the great number of shots 
the enemy had fired and the fierceness of the com- 
bat for a time. In this respect it bore a striking 
resemblance to Dewey's recent naval engagement 
in Manila Bay. 

The splendid victory of American sea arms 
opened the gates of Santiago from the front, and 
thereby saved thousands of lives in the thinned 
little American army which in its three-days' 
fighting back of the city had all but gained en- 
trance. Threatened in front and behind Santi- 
ago soon after capitulated. 



XIII 

THE RUNNING FIGHT OFF 
THE FALKLANDS 

'Twere enough had these steel leviathans 
Been satisfied with, one feast of prey ; 
They staid too long, 
Now came a song 
Of vengeance from the landlocked bay: 
Great guns roared; they fled, dismayed, 
Before steel craft, still swifter made — 
And in a breath 
They'd met their death, 
And for their boldness dearly paid. 

— Villers. 



The Running Fight off the 
Falklands 

At the outbreak of the World War, in the sum- 
mer of 1914, the British Grand Fleet at once took 
its position in Scotch waters facing the German 
ports. Here they did valiant work all through 
four long years of the struggle, completely shut- 
ting in all German craft except submarines, and 
rendering the power of the German navy practi- 
cally harmless. 

But when hostilities were declared there were, 
as usual at the beginning of all wars, war vessels 
and merchantmen of the various nations involved 
scattered here and there over the seas and in 
many ports. Among the few fighting ships Ger- 
many had away from home waters at this time 
was the squadron of Admiral Von Spee, which 
included the Schamhorst and the Gneisenau, — 
two very swift and powerful battle-cruisers, — as 
well as the Nurnberg, the Dresden, and the 
Leipzig, destroyers. This squadron was caught, 
by the edict of war, in the waters of the South 
Pacific. So quick had been the action of Great 
Britain in blockading Germany's coast that Von 

Spee found there was little chance for him to 

299 



300 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

run into a home port had he chosen ; but this did 
not greatly bother him, as he wished to strike 
some telling blows upon the enemy's interests be- 
fore he left his present stalking grounds, and 
thought he would really have no trouble to get 
into a German harbor when the necessity finally 
arose. 

Within a very short time, however, he began to 
think he might have his hands full. One day his 
wireless brought him word that Japan had joined 
forces with the enemy, and that a Japanese fleet 
was even then about to start out to look him up. 
As he had every good reason to avoid meeting 
the powerful Japanese flotilla, Von Spee made 
haste to strike his blows and get out of the local- 
ity. By diligent use of his wireless he gathered 
his far-flung ships together in record time, and 
made for the coast of Chili, having learned by the 
same means of communication from German 
agents in Ecuador and Colombia that some vic- 
tims awaited him at Coronel. 

At Coronel, in the meantime, Admiral Cradock, 
of the British Royal Navy, had been lying in 
harbor with some very decrepit and poorly- 
equipped warships. This squadron consisted of 
the antiquated battle-cruisers Monmouth and 
Good Hope, also the Glasgow and the Canopus, 
the latter second-rate light cruisers. 

Admiral Cradock, outnumbered and without 



FIGHT OF THE FALKLANDS 301 

the ghost of a show in the beginning, put up a 
valiant fight when the two squadrons met. But 
the result was inevitable. The short and bitter 
fight witnessed the complete defeat of the Brit- 
ish, the brave Cradock going down with his flag- 
ship, only the Canopus and the Glasgow manag- 
ing to escape. 

Britain for a moment was dazed; the Admir- 
alty was blamed not only by the public of 
England but by the governments and publics 
of her Allies. It was declared by one and all 
that poor Cradock should never have been per- 
mitted to be so far away from home with such 
wretched ships; and the Admiralty, nodding re- 
luctantly, at once put the entire blame on Vice- 
Admiral Sturdee, Chief of the War Staff, who, 
from his office in London, had had control of the 
ill-fated squadron in the South Pacific. This al- 
most broke poor Sturdee's heart, for he had done 
the best he could ; if Cradock had not been given 
better and more ships it was because he had 
thought they were more urgently needed else- 
where. He made up his mind that in only one 
way could he vindicate himself in the eyes of his 
compatriots and the Allies ; he must, rather than 
throw off responsibility, take more on; he must 
cause a disaster to German naval craft that would 
compensate doubly for their victory over Crad- 
ock's squadron. 



302 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Under the light of incandescents, great maps 
of war glare white upon the walls. Like sheets 
of a woman's washing hung out to dry, they touch 
corner to corner around the big room. Benches, 
just below, make it possible for man to reach 
them — to insert and to withdraw any one of the 
scores of black blobs and little flags that stick 
into them, representing the positions of the four 
thousand ships whose movements are all under 
the instant beck and call of this room, though they 
may be thousands of miles away. 

The shades are drawn. Not a ray of light 
leaks out of the strange apartment into the murk 
of the darkened streets of London — a London of 
startling, death-like quiet, a London hiding itself 
from the Zeppelin nighthawks of the enemy. 
Here in the innermost room of the new wing of 
the Admiralty building at Whitehall, is the 
"Chamber of Strategy" of the British War Staff. 
It is the real nerve center of the British Royal 
Navy. 

Wireless telegraphy has transformed the Nel- 
sons of to-day into mere subordinates. Their 
orders, even in the heat of battle, do not come 
from the deck of the flag-ship, but from the desk 
of an office in the heart of London, far, far away. 
When a squadron moves on the seas, it also moves 
on the huge map on the wall, be it British, Amer- 
ican, German or Austrian. The moment a ship 



FIGHT OF THE FALKLANDS 303 

is destroyed by storm or battle, the tiny flag rep- 
resenting it on the map disappears with it. 
There is no roar of big guns at the Admiralty, no 
smoke of battle; and yet there is no lack of ex- 
citement, no lack of dramatic interest. 

Just imagine yourself present at one of these 
tense moments — for instance, in the month of 
November, 1914. Little sparks of blue have not 
long ceased spitting out their message of the wip- 
ing out of Cradock's squadron at Coronel. All 
England is demanding naval revenge. Every- 
body looks sullenly at Admiral Sturdee. 

A door of the inner chamber jerks open, a clat- 
ter of typewriters comes through, clerks are seen 
running hither and thither with baskets of let- 
ters. In bolts a heavy-set man, with square jaw 
and gray hair, and a plentiful display of gold 
braid bands almost to his elbow. This is Lord 
Fisher, Admiral of the Fleets, active master mind 
of all the British fighting ships. From him 
every fleet and squadron admiral must get his 
orders. It is chiefly la this strong man that 
Great Britain owes the wonderful strength of her 
present navy. At seventy-four he is the biggest 
man with the biggest job in the United Kingdom. 

As Lord Fisher enters the chamber there is a 
growl from the square jaws, a savage snap of the 
teeth. He looks for all the world as if he were 
a bull just pricked by the picador's darts. He is 



304 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

thinking of Cradock. Poor Admiral Sturdee 
knows that well enough, and he feels none too 
easy as he beckons the First Sea Lord up to the 
table where he and his fellow junior officers have 
been gravely discussing some maps and plans. 
Scattered near are divers mechanical drawing 
instruments and mathematical notations. 

Admiral Sturdee directs the attention of Lord 
Fisher to these plans, and says a few words 
briefly. The gruff chief's eyes lighten up for a 
moment, a few of the scowling wrinkles thin out 
along his brow. But only for a moment, then he 
snarls out : "Fine enough plans, Sturdee ! Why 
don't you carry them out yourself?" 

"Will you let me?" cries Sturdee. 

"Yes; go!" 

Sturdee's chance to redeem himself has come. 
Von Spee's ships had better watch out! With- 
out a moment's delay Sturdee sits down and 
writes out his own orders to the commander of 
the British squadron which is to wreak vengeance 
for Admiral Cradock. The battle-cruisers are 
under repair. But no matter ; the workmen can 
be taken along to complete their jobs while the 
vessels are under way, to be dropped off at the 
first coaling point! 

It is touch and go. At the break of the signal 
the course is laid down the South American coast. 
A fight hovers near. 



FIGHT OF THE FALKLANDS 305 

There are great differences between the naval 
conditions of to-day and those of a hundred years 
ago. These lie in the greater speed of ships, in 
the longer range of guns, in the menace of the 
torpedo as fired from destroyers and submarines, 
in the menace of mines, and in the use of air- 
craft scouts, and of wireless telegraphy. In the 
Napoleonic era the ships, of wood, had a speed 
fully ten times slower than now, even under the 
most favorable conditions for them ; and half the 
time they could not move at all owing to lack of 
wind. To-day the fastest destroyers will easily 
make twenty-five knots an hour in anything but 
the very roughest of weather. Then ships could 
not damage an enemy farther away than eight 
thousand yards; the vessels of to-day will sink 
an enemy at twenty-two thousand yards, or over 
eleven nautical miles' range. The torpedo is ef- 
fective up to ten thousand yards, and this re- 
quires that a ship shall keep beyond this distance 
in order to be safe from this sort of peril. 

From this it will be seen that the day of board- 
ing and close-quarters fighting is a thing of the 
past. Practically all modern fighting is done at 
a distance of from one thousand to two thousand 
yards, preferably fifteen hundred, at which dis- 
tance gun fire is very effective and the enemy can 
be plainly seen, in fair weather, with the naked 
eye. 



3 o6 BOYS' BOOK OP SEA FIGHTS 

To the east of the southern portion of South 
America lies the British group known as the 
Falkland Islands. On the larger of these islands 
— East Falkland — the British have a powerful 
wireless station. It was word from this station 
which had caused Admiral Sturdee, in London, 
to gulp with sudden joy, and forthwith prepare 
plans to visit it. The intelligence had come from 
a lady and her servants who lived on the island. 
This bright woman, whose home was on a high 
elevation and who possessed a strong glass, de- 
clared that she had recently seen several ships 
out at sea which she was quite sure were German 
and belonged to Von Spee's squadron. As the 
Glasgow and the Canopus, which had escaped 
from Von Spee in the fight off Coronel, had 
sought refuge in the harbor of Port Stanley, 
East Falkland, it was concluded that either the 
German admiral was in search of these or in- 
tended a general attack on the Falklands them- 
selves. 

The truth is, Von Spee had it up his sleeve to 
kill two birds with one stone. His scouts, which 
the lady had observed, had discovered the Glas- 
gow and the Canopus in their places of refuge, 
and now it was the commander's intention to 
bombard the town and sink the two ships at the 
one operation. 

We may judge then of his surprise when he 



FIGHT OF THE FALKLANDS 307 

came around Cape Horn only to find that in the 
meantime eight additional British warships had 
slipped into the harbor, and were waiting calmly 
to receive him. So swiftly and so secretly had 
every movement of Admiral Sturdee's been made 
that, for once at least, German intelligence effi- 
ciency had gone awry — as it did many a time later 
on during the war, despite scientific intrigue and 
the most extensive spy system the world has ever 
known. 

It was about half-past nine in the morning that 
the German ships, Gncisenau and Narnberg lead- 
ing, and not yet having discovered the true situa- 
tion, drew near to Port Stanley Harbor with their 
heavy guns trained on the tall wireless tower. 
Between them and the harbor was a long, low 
stretch of land running eastward, behind which 
lay the Canopus and the Glasgow. Suddenly 
the Germans were astonished to find themselves 
the target for a smart fire which swept across 
this low ground at a range of about six miles! 

The two foe ships stopped, considered; then 
evidently deeming discretion the better part of 
valor, hoisted their colors and turned away. 
About the same time H. M. S. Invincible sighted 
other hostile ships nine or ten miles distant. At 
once signals went up from the British flag-ship 
ordering all ships to form in battle line and move 
forward to meet the enemy. As the squadron 



308 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

proceeded all five of Von Spee's ships could be 
plainly seen to the southeast. The day was fine, 
with a calm sea, a bright sun, a clear sky, and a 
light breeze from the northwest. 

Careful observation of the German vessels soon 
made it apparent that they were afraid of an en- 
gagement, and were doing their best to get out 
of the neighborhood. Instead of bows forward, 
as at the beginning, sterns stared the British 
sailors in the face. The foe was running — run- 
ning for dear life. 

The British sea-dogs fairly bayed at this, like 
hounds after a fleeing fox. It would never do 
to be cheated of their prey like this — never ! If 
the Grand Fleet up in the North Sea could not 
coax ou£ the boastful German High Seas Fleet 
for a respectable little set-to, here at least they 
had a bunch of German craft where a protecting 
palisade of cowardly mines did not come between ! 
Run, Von Spee! Dig in, Von Spee! If your 
legs are more nimble than Britain's, all well and 
good; if not — 

Two signals run up on Admiral Sturdee's flag- 
ship, the Invincible. One says, "God save the 
King!" The other reads, "Give chase to the en- 
emy !" A mighty cheer swells up from the decks 
of the five British warships; the sailors tumble 
over one another in their efforts to perform the 
duties the officers are calling out; the speed of 
the heavy ships increases noticeably. 



FIGHT OF THE FALKLANDS 309 

It is a stern chase, for the enemy vessels too 
are swift and well-handled. But slowly the space 
between the two flying squadrons decreases. The 
destroyers, fleetest of all the ships, sway from 
side to side dizzly, the sea dashing over their fore- 
decks in great roaring sheets, as they plunge along 
their way. Their crews on deck cling to ob- 
jects as they work, to prevent being slithered off 
into the sea and lost ; and in the wardroom officers 
studying charts are lashed to their seats so that 
they can hold their papers in both hands without 
being thrown across the cabin. 

Through it all Admiral Sturdee stands on the 
bridge of his flag-ship with quickened pulse and 
eager heart. More than half the time his glass 
is at his eyes. Each time he drops it those eyes 
express greater satisfaction. Finally, a little 
past noon, he notes that he is within suitable range 
of the enemy. He decides to open the attack 
with the Invincible, the Inflexible, and the Glas- 
gow. How the officers and crew of the last- 
named vessel, especially, have longed for this mo- 
ment ! Forced to see their weak sister ships ham- 
mered to pieces before their very eyes, under 
Cradock a few weeks before, now they will have 
a chance for a sweet revenge. 

The signal goes up, "Engage the enemy." It 
is the Inflexible that gets in the first shot, followed 
a minute later by the Invincible. Their big fif- 



310 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

teen-inch guns jar the decks when they go off, but 
the men are used to this and pay no attention. 
The range is about eight miles — a little closer 
than necessary and within the danger zone of 
torpedoes, but Sturdee is eager to wind matters 
up quickly. The water spouts up a hundred feet 
in the air, showing that the shells have missed. 
Almost immediately the enemy replies, and sim- 
ilar jets of water shoot up a half-mile beyond the 
British. 

The British ships now work around and fire a 
salvo of their heavy pieces, followed by their 
lighter batteries. Two of the German squadron 
give evidence of distress. A cheer goes up 
aboard the Invincible and the Glasgow. Then 
they notice that three of the hostile ships are 
making off to the eastward. Without further 
ado, the Glasgow, the Cornwall, and the Kent 
take up the chase. 

While this pursuit is going on let us consider 
the movements of the heavier craft. 

The Invincible engages Von Spee himself in 
his flag-ship, the Schamhorst, and the Inflexible 
looks after the Gneisenau. These two German 
ships, after their temporary slowing up, now be- 
gin to make full speed away from the scene, and 
the fight that goes on is made while all vessels 
are under considerable headway. Sturdee and 
his crew are just as determined as ever that the 
foe flag-ship shall not get away. 



FIGHT OF THE FALKLANDS 311 

Presently a good shot carries away the after 
funnel of the Schamhorst. A few minutes later, 
the men in the foretop report that she is on fire. 
What a cheer goes up ! But it is as nothing to 
that which arises a little later when the flames 
can be seen from deck, and great clouds of smoke 
arise, mixed with billows of white steam. The 
guns of the German, however, still roar forth, 
but at far longer intervals than before. 

Shortly another shell bores its way into her 
hull, tearing a great ragged gap through which 
the British can see the red glow of the furnace of 
flames that is fast eating out the entrails of the 
doomed vessel. As she begins perceptibly to set- 
tle, however, her courageous crew continue to 
use those of her guns that are still undamaged. 
It is a brave effort that even the pursuers ad- 
mire, hated as the Germans are, and a faint cheer 
goes up involuntarily from more than one Jack 
Tar's throat. 

The Invincible realizes her present task is done. 
She turns her attention to assisting the Inflexible 
punish the Gneisenau, which has already been 
pretty well shot up, but is still making good speed 
and using her guns as she runs. By five o'clock 
she also has lost a funnel, and is on fire in several 
places. And yet, displaying the same heroism as 
her sister ship she struggles on her course, while 
her batteries continue to thunder out their de- 



3 i2 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

fiance with constantly decreasing effectiveness, 
finally resorting to her last gun. An hour later 
she heels over and sinks. Here is an entry in the 
diary of one of her officers, taken after his rescue : 
"5:10, Hit, hit! 5:12, Hit! 5:14, Hit, hit, hit! 
5 : 20, After-turret gone. 5 : 40, Hit, hit ! On 
fire everywhere. 5:41, Hit, hit! Flames 
breaking through all over. Sinking. 5 : 45, 
Hit! Men nearly half killed. 5: 46, Hit, hit!" 

After the last entry the officer evidently had 
something else to do than make notes in his diary. 
In the meantime boats had been lowered from the 
Invincible and the Inflexible, life-buoys and ropes 
were thrown to the unfortunates who could not 
be immediately reached, and in this way about 
three hundred of the Germans were saved, in- 
cluding the captain of the Inflexible. Admiral 
Von Spee went down with his ship apparently, as 
he could not be found among the saved. 

While this action was going on the Glasgow 
and the Cornwall had fought and sunk the 
Leipzig. Like the other German craft she took 
fire fore and aft, and as the shades of night were 
closing in, she turned over on her port side and 
disappeared. None of her crew was saved, so 
sudden was her plunge into the depths. 

Meanwhile the Kent was dealing with the 
Nurnberg, experiencing a long chase on account 
of the fact that she had very little fuel. When 




Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

ADMIRAL SIR FREDERICK STURDEE 



FIGHT OF THE FALKLANDS 313 

the stokers had done their best, and worked the 
ship up well above her official rate of speed, they 
reported that there was practically no coal left. 
This was bad news. It looked as if the N urn- 
berg would surely get away, for without fuel the 
Kent must soon begin to slow down and event- 
ually stop altogether. 

But the captain was equal to the occasion. He 
suggested breaking up the boats! No sooner 
mentioned than done. The small craft were 
taken from their davits and broken into bits, and 
fed to the hungry furnace. Even more, as it was 
seen additional wood was required, officers' 
chairs, chests, ladders, — everything which would 
burn and could be spared was given to the ax 
and fed into power. To make the flames hotter 
oil was put on the precious fuel. 

In this way, and only in this way, did they 
gain on the Nurnberg sufficiently to round her 
up with their guns. She was riddled with shot, 
and went down like a lump of lead. As the ship 
sank the British sailors saw a group of men wav- 
ing a German ensign fastened to a staff. The 
next moment they were swallowed up forever, 
but their heroic conduct was such as to make any 
enemy feel a tug of admiration and compassion 
in his heart for his adversary, no matter how bit- 
ter his natural attitude. Only five of the crew 
were picked up from this ship. 



314 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

Of all the five German warships only one es- 
caped. This was the fast light-cruiser Dresden, 
whose good luck was due entirely to the approach 
of evening and the shield of darkness. But this 
loss was more than made up at midnight, when 
Admiral Sturdee received a wireless message 
from H. M. S. Bristol to the effect that during 
the action two enemy transports had been de- 
stroyed near the Falklands. 

On the whole it was a signal victory for the 
British. Moreover it was a great revenge. 
And to one man — he who engineered it — it 
brought a great blessing. Sturdee went back to 
the War Office in London with the heavy smirch 
that had beclouded his reputation gone completely 
—erased by his own gallant exploit. The Ad- 
miralty, London, England, all the Allies and all 
the Neutrals, paid him homage. He had re- 
deemed himself nobly. 

As for Sturdee himself, he stepped up to one 
of the great maps on the wall and plucked there- 
from five tiny German flags that had been mark- 
ing the vicinity of the Falkland Islands. 

So Cradock and his gallant band did not die in 
vain. His defeat made a great moral victory. 



XIV 

THE BATTLE OFF JUTLAND BANK 

High in the sky great man-birds fly, 
As under the sea man-fish swim by; 
Great forts of steel float in between 
And cripple foes who can't be seen. 

— Curtis. 



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The Battle off Jutland Bank 

Just prior to the opening scenes of the World 
War in 1914, Germany had a wonderful vision of 
snatching away from Great Britain her long-sus- 
tained reputation as "mistress of the seas." 
Secretly the German Empire for years had been 
building and equipping a most elaborate armada, 
spending money lavishly for the day when con- 
ditions would be ripe for her to measure her naval 
strength with those nations which she felt might 
array themselves against her when she should at- 
tempt to become master of the world. 

But, as stated in a preceding chapter, when war 
broke out there was a little hitch in her calcula- 
tions. Instead of having only France to deal 
with at the beginning, Great Britain jumped into 
the fracas so suddenly that Germany could not 
get her great High Seas Fleet out of Wilhelms- 
haven Harbor, and the consequence was these 
ships from which she had hoped so much were 
bottled up by the British Grand Fleet almost as 
helpless as so many flies in a trap. And all 
through the four years of the conflict the English 
ships maintained this vigil so sharply that only 

317 



318 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

a few stragglers of the enemy managed to sneak 
out. 

Of course the German men-of-war were priv- 
ileged to make a sortie and try to force their way 
through the blockade any time they chose; in 
fact, the British prayed daily for just such a hap- 
pening, for they were wild to get the enemy ves- 
sels out from behind their protection of mines and 
land batteries where they could meet them in a 
fair test of supremacy. But, in spite of many 
efforts made to bait out the German armada by 
drawing the British fleet well away from the har- 
bor, only once in those four long years did the 
German High Seas Fleet really venture forth far 
enough to get into action. And then they were 
crafty enough to come out of their hiding place 
late in the day, so that if the fight went against 
them (as we shall presently see it did) they could 
escape back to the harbor under cover of dark- 
ness. 

This battle — the first and only one of the main 
fleets of the contending nations in this war — 
was the greatest in modern marine history. In 
it practically every type of modern naval fighting 
craft was used. There were the great, massive, 
floating steel forts called super-dreadnoughts, 
carrying crews of over one thousand men — 
enough to populate a respectable small town — 
and equipped with mammoth fifteen-inch guns, 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 319 

into whose long barrels a man could crawl, and 
out of which barrels great steel shells could be 
vomited ten or eleven miles, to go through the 
steel plate of an enemy ship that could not be seen 
with the naked eye. There were the battle- 
cruisers — ships much like the super-dreadnaughts 
except that they were narrower and faster and 
carried guns of less power. There were the 
light-cruisers — ships of steel still lighter, still 
faster; made for the chase and for closer fight- 
ing. There were the destroyers — ships so long 
and rangy that they rocked like a cradle when 
under high pressure; the fastest of all warcraft, 
capable of almost express-train speed, and given 
torpedo-tubes through which these deadly ex- 
plosive missiles could be sent to sink an enemy 
ship five miles away. 

Then, too, there were those sly, destructive 
men-fish of the sea — the submarines; slow of 
speed, but with their terrible torpedoes, able to 
swim unseen under the water close enough to 
sink the largest of vessels; able also, through 
their huge glass eye, to spy upon the enemy un- 
seen where surface craft would be instantly de- 
tected ; able to successfully thread the tightest of 
blockades, to travel under water a hundred miles 
without once coming up, to cruise three weeks 
before needing new fuel; but ever subjected to 
the untold dangers of jagged submarine rocks, 



320 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

enemy mines and nets, submarine-chasers, and 
hydroplanes whose aviators could see far down 
into the waters and were always ready to drop 
a death-dealing- bomb. 

There were, indeed, these seaplanes themselves. 
They nestled on the broad, flat upper decks of 
mother-ships made especially for them. From 
these decks they could wing away, far up into 
the clouds, there to watch and photograph enemy 
doings, and then whir their way back again. Or 
they could, a little lower, drop their terrible dyna- 
mite bombs on the deck of a foe, or the top of a 
fortification, creating awful havoc. 

On May 30th, 191 6, Sir John Jellicoe, com- 
mander-in-chief of the British Grand Fleet, hav- 
ing determined to make another effort to coax 
out the German High Seas Fleet from the harbor 
of Wilhelmshaven, ordered his squadrons to 
widen the breach. In this operation his fleet 
swept through the North Sea in a broad circle. 
It was divided into two portions. That section 
under Sir David Beatty, consisting of the battle- 
cruisers and certain supporting units, turned 
south and made a round of the broad gulf which 
is bounded on the east by Denmark and on the 
south by the flat German coast lying behind Heli- 
goland. Admiral Jellicoe remained to the north, 
and in mid-afternoon of the following day was 
not far from the Norwegian coast at its southern- 
most point. 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 321 

On this same day — May 31st — Admiral Von 
Scheer, of the German High Seas Fleet, seemed 
to have swallowed the bait at last. With his 
fleet he left his base and started northward about 
the middle of the afternoon. He too had di- 
vided his ships. But instead of going in differ- 
ent directions, he was astute enough to follow one 
course, and sent before the main fleet a battle- 
cruiser squadron under Admiral Von Hipper. It 
must not be assumed that Scheer had left the 
harbor to look up and challenge the British ves- 
sels in the belief that the time had come for him 
to institute a second Trafalgar. Far from it; 
every circumstance indicates that he thought it 
a splendid opportunity when the cat was away to 
let his mice come out and frolic; in other words, 
vacate their cramped quarters in Wilhelmshaven 
long enough to get their long-deferred high-seas 
exercise. 

But the Germans' exercise was to be of a dif- 
ferent sort than they anticipated. Shortly be- 
fore three o'clock, Admiral Beatty, who had com- 
pleted his swing through the North Sea, turned 
about and was headed north to join Jellicoe. At 
this moment a lookout in the foretop of one of his 
light-cruisers, the Galatea, sighted in the far dis- 
tance a pencil-line of black smoke. 

Instantly Beatty had his wireless operator get 
in touch with the operator on board one of the 



322 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

squadron's seaplane mother-ships. When the 
blue flame had ceased hissing, all was understood. 
And a few minutes later the Admiral saw the 
huge bird rise gracefully from her nest, and un- 
der the skillful guidance of her pilot go soaring 
up into the heavens at an acute slant. In a very 
short time she was a mere speck against the gray 
ether — up fully two thousand feet. For awhile 
the seaplane hovered there, slowly circling, then 
down she swooped as quickly as she had gone up, 
and after a little maneuvering settled back in her 
nest. 

Meantime the little blue sparks had crackled in 
the operator's room of Beatty's ship. Like light- 
ning the operator's fingers had tapped the keys 
of a typewriter, as with receivers to ears he de- 
ciphered the message coming through the waste 
of ether that separated him from the seaplane. 
By three-thirty — long before the aircraft had 
come down — Admiral Beatty had received his 
first reports from her observer. These reports 
were extremely gratifying to him. They stated 
that the line of smoke seen to the eastward was 
made by a squadron of five German battle- 
cruisers! This turned out to be Admiral Von 
Hipper's. With Hipper was the usual accom- 
paniment of light-cruisers and destroyers. 

Admiral Beatty at once formed a line of battle, 
steering in the direction of the enemy, east-south- 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 323 

east, at twenty-five knots. At the same time his 
Fifth Battle Squadron followed off to the north- 
west, keeping parallel with the main force. 

Before the British ships had gone far, a blimp 
(captive balloon) on the deck of one of Von Flip- 
per's vessels discovered them. The German 
squadron was seen to wheel about and make to- 
ward their High Seas Fleet. By reason of their 
slow speed it was rightly inferred by the British 
that Von Hipper hoped to lure the British squad- 
ron into good range of his main body before they 
could extricate themselves. 

Beatty was perfectly willing to be drawn for- 
ward to the limits of safety, and under good speed 
took after the retreating foe. In order not to be 
caught in a trap with his own small complement 
of ships, Beatty sent two seaplanes ahead. 
From these he presently learned that the main 
fleet of the enemy was some fifty miles to the 
southward, whereupon he ordered more steam 
and increased the pressure against Von Hipper. 

By three-fifty Admiral Beatty had reached a 
position about eighteen thousand yards in the 
rear of the enemy. As this was fair range for 
his heavy guns, he opened up. And about the 
same time Von Hipper did likewise. Thus six 
British ships whose total broadsides equalled 
thirty-two 13.5-inch guns and sixteen 12-inch 
guns were now in a duel with five German ships 



324 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

whose total broadsides equalled sixteen 12-inch 
guns and twenty-eight 11 -inch guns. By de- 
grees the British closed up till a distance of less 
than fourteen thousand yards separated them 
from the enemy. 

The British gunners were shooting with very 
good precision, having made hits several times, 
but these were not vital ones. On the other hand 
the German fire, while not as accurate, was more 
fortunate, and in almost as many strikes they had 
sunk the Queen Mary and the Indefatigable, 
which had developed marked structural defects. 

The loss of these two ships reduced Admiral 
Beatty's armored vessels to four, and his weight 
of metal to an approximate equality with his an- 
tagonist who was still five ships strong. Yet he 
showed no signs of hesitancy, but continued to 
fight on aggressively. Presently his other wing 
— the Fifth Battle Squadron — came up to within 
twenty thousand yards of the enemy and essayed 
to lend him support by using their 15-inch 
guns. This was a very long range in any 
weather, and worse now, as the heavens had 
clouded and the air was somewhat misty. But 
as they drew nearer their shots seemed to have 
effect, for the fire of Von Hipper began to slacken 
perceptibly. 

At four o'clock a lookout on the battle-cruiser 
Invincible telephoned to the bridge that the peri- 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 325 

scope of a submarine could be seen about seven 
miles to the southwestward. A minute later a 
lookout in the foretop of the Engadine, mother- 
ship, reported another periscope about the same 
distance away, bearing more to the westward. 
Beatty saw that the enemy was about to precipitate 
a U-boat attack on him. These submarines must 
not be allowed to get within less than five miles, 
as then their deadly torpedoes could be effectively 
used upon some hapless member of the squad- 
ron. 

Immediately he ordered forth four of his de- 
stroyers, and while these started toward the posi- 
tions of the submarines, playing their guns as 
they went, Beatty got into communication with 
his cruising seaplanes which quickly came dash- 
ing out of the cloud mists to the southeast, 
dropped to within twelve hundred feet of the 
sea in the neighborhood where the U-boats were 
reported to have been seen, and floated slowly 
along, as their observers, bombs set and levers in 
hand, gazed intently down into the greenish 
waters for the dark moving shadow that would 
proclaim an enemy submarine. German shells 
burst in the air here and there about them, but 
the aviators coolly continued their search. 

All at once an observer's arm moved; down 
through the air shot a pear-like object, guided 
unerringly by the little vanes at its tail end, and 



326 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

plunged into the dark sea. An instant later 
there was a muffled explosion, the waters churned, 
heaved high, and settled again in a great disc of 
white, troubled foam. And presently in that 
foam appeared bits of wooden wreckage, and 
long irregular ribbons and patches of bluish-pur- 
ple oil. 

When the flyers saw this they smiled grimly, 
and flew away to help their brother airmen hunt 
for the other U-boat. That particular submarine 
was an enemy no longer ! But the other German 
undersea craft had made good its frightened es- 
cape. 

Admiral Von Hipper now sent a light-cruiser 
back with fifteen destroyers, bent upon assailing 
and destroying the destroyers which Beatty had 
dispatched in quest of the U-boats. Bravely the 
British destroyers stood in their tracks and fired 
their guns till they were so hot they could not be 
touched with the bare hand. In this fight they 
were helped by their own vessels farther to the 
rear. It was the hottest engagement yet, the sea 
showing almost continuous spouts of water in the 
vicinity of both squadrons wherever the shots 
missed their marks. 

The haze had now thickened. The enemy 
could only be dimly made out. At four-forty the 
Second Light-Cruiser Squadron of the British 
force, which was scouting in advance, reported 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 327 

that the German High Seas Fleet was approach- 
ing out of the mists to the southeastward. 

Realizing that he would be overwhelmed by 
this huge reenforcement of the foe should he con- 
tinue longer to chase Von Hipper, Admiral Beatty 
lost no time in changing his course and steaming 
at good speed toward the northwest. It is truly 
a queer turn of affairs. First we had Von Hip- 
per running away from Beatty in an attempt to 
escape himself and at the same time draw the 
British into the net of the main German body 
behind. And now we have the situation exactly 
reversed: it is Beatty who runs, and Von Hipper 
who does the chasing; and Beatty hopes to draw 
the Germans into the clutches of Jellicoe ! 

This last phase of the situation is now an ac- 
tuality. The enemy is quick to note the sudden 
lack of interest on the British admiral's part, and 
signaling the main fleet behind him to hurry for- 
ward and back him up, Von Hipper takes up the 
pursuit, his battle-cruisers stationing themselves 
in the van. As the turn is executed the Fifth 
Battle Squadron, steaming at an angle, engages 
the Germans in front for a few moments, then 
turns swiftly and falls in astern of Beatty, who 
now has eight ships in line. 

• Under a speed of about twenty-one knots, the 
British make just enough headway to cover 
ground well and at the same stroke do effective 



328 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

work with their guns and encourage the pursuit. 
The range is now about fourteen thousand yards, 
and it can be seen that the enemy is getting 
heavily hit while his own shots are largely flying 
wild. Soon a German destroyer is seen to burst 
into flames and go down. And a little after five 
o'clock the enemy battle-cruiser Luizow, badly 
damaged with fifteen good-sized holes in her, 
withdraws. Ten minutes later a British sub- 
marine succeeds in projecting a torpedo into the 
battle-cruiser Pommern, and the big German ship 
vanishes amid a cloud of smoke and steam. In 
the next half-hour three enemy destroyers are 
seen to sink. This leaves only three German bat- 
tle-cruisers in the lead of the first foe division. 
Just before six o'clock, to their consternation, Ad- 
mirals Von Hipper and Von Scheer find them- 
selves within range of Admiral Jellicoe's big fleet. 
Beatty has very adroitly lured them on and on, 
as Von Hipper had lured him on and on, till now 
the great rival fleets of both nations face one 
another. 

At this stage the positions of the contending 
fleets were as follows : Beatty, with four battle- 
cruisers of his own detachment, and four of the 
Fifth Squadron just astern, was now turning 
sharply eastward to pass across the head of the 
German High Seas Fleet and prevent it from edg- 
ing in that direction, as it gave evidence of do- 




Underwood & Underwood, N- Y. 

ADMIRAL SIR DAVID BEATTY 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 329 

ing. This would bring him at right-angles to the 
foe — or in the relative position of the horizontal 
bar on a letter T, the enemy represented by the 
upright stem, — the most advantageous position 
for stopping the Germans as well as raking their 
craft by broadsides. North of Beatty's ships 
was the main British fleet, with three battle- 
cruisers under Hood on one wing, and four 
armored-cruisers under Arbuthnot on the other. 
The head of the enemy line was about twelve 
thousand yards from Beatty, and twenty-two 
thousand yards from Jellicoe. 

Admiral Beatty's eastward turn compelled the 
foe to turn, and created an opening for the main 
British fleet to move in and cut the Germans from 
their base. To reenforce Beatty in this critical 
operation, Hood steamed in fast with his three 
battle-cruisers, and swung magnificently into 
position at the head of Beatty's line. There he 
received, the next minute, a terrific fire from the 
enemy, eight thousand yards away. It was a 
torrent that no ship could stand up under long; 
and a short time later the Invincible, Hood's flag- 
ship, was struck by the combined salvoes of the 
German fleet, and sank. Three battle-cruisers 
were now gone; out of their combined crews of 
twenty-five hundred men a mere handful were 

saved. 

A little earlier, Admiral Arbuthnot had bravely 



330 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

attacked with his four weak armored-cruisers, 
striking the full front of the enemy which was al- 
most completely hidden by smoke. This inter- 
vention prevented a dangerous German torpedo 
attack on the British cruisers, but it was poor 
Arbuthnot's last service for his country and he 
and his outnumbered ships perished. 

Soon the Warrior was disabled, and the Black 
Prince badly hit, the enemy seeming to have con- 
centrated their fire upon first one and then the 
other. A little later the Warspite showed signs 
of distress, but continued to use her guns with 
such determination and accuracy that her oppon- 
ents slackened their fire, and she was able to make 
her way to the Fifth Battle Squadron which had 
taken a position just astern of Admiral Jellicoe's 
fleet. 

About six-thirty this fleet had worked up near 
enough to engage in the fight for the first time. 
Had Jellicoe come a little sooner there is no doubt 
he would have saved many lives and several ships, 
for the struggle had been very unequal; but he 
had come as quickly as conditions would permit, 
apparently, the fog making it necessary for him 
to get within eleven thousand yards before he 
could properly distinguish the enemy from the 
ships of Beatty. 

Even as it was the light was very bad. The 
Germans were shrouded in haze, and seemed anx- 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 331 

ious to blanket themselves as much as they could ; 
their destroyers sent up thick clouds of black coal 
smoke, which obscured an atmosphere already 
choked with the fumes of bursting shells and ship 
conflagration, and growing naturally darker with 
the close approach of night. From the front of 
the British Grand Fleet never more than five Ger- 
man craft could be seen at one time, and from 
the rear never more than a dozen. 

As they fired their guns, the British constantly 
tried to close, but were eluded by the enemy, who 
utilized destroyer attacks to cover his retreat, 
and made back toward his base with all possible 
speed, much to the disgust of the British who, 
now that they had the Germans out in the open 
at last, wanted to have the matter of sea supre- 
macy definitely settled. Difficult as it was to 
shoot with accuracy in this disconcerting dusk 
and smoke, surprisingly good hits were made, and 
more than one of the foe ships was set on fire or 
sunk in that will-o'-the-wisp retreat of the Kais- 
er's minions. 

Particularly did the Marlborough, of the First 
Battle Squadron, distinguish herself. After 
sending two German destroyers to the bottom, she 
gave seven salvoes to an enemy battleship of the 
Kaiser class, also sinking her ; but in the engage- 
ment was struck by a torpedo. From her engine- 
room a great cloud of smoke arose, she listed 



332 BOYS' BOOK OF SEA FIGHTS 

violently, then recovered, and nine minutes later 
reopened fire, completing her work of sinking 
her third ship. A little later she turned upon a 
battleship of the Konig, class, and hopelessly 
crippled her. 

The ships of the Fourth Battle Squadron were 
principally in action with the German battle- 
cruisers, while the Second Squadron looked after 
the German battleships. These British ships 
were greatly handicapped, like their sister vessels, 
with the obscurity of smoke and night, but made 
their power felt nevertheless. 

About eight o'clock the battleship engagement 
closed, the enemy disappearing in the smoke and 
mist to the west of Admiral Jellicoe's fleet. Or- 
ders were issued to the torpedo craft to look up 
the Germans and attack if they could be found. 
Twenty minutes later Beatty pushed west in sup- 
port of the destroyers, and presently sighted two 
enemy battleships and two battle-cruisers. 
These he attacked at a range of ten thousand 
yards — a long distance considering the difficult 
visuality. The leading German ship was hit re- 
peatedly, and turned away with a heavy list, emit- 
ting flames. Another German vessel — possibly 
the Heligoland — was also struck until she was set 
afire. A third enemy craft, a three-funneled bat- 
tleship, was so battered by the Indomitable and 
the New Zealand that she could barely get away 
in the shroud of gloom. 



OFF JUTLAND BANK 333 

By eight-thirty darkness had closed in to an 
extent that prevented all further fighting, and 
the German ships, well-scattered, were last seen 
flying in a westerly direction. At eight-forty a 
violent explosion was felt by the British Grand 
Fleet. This was probably caused by the destruc- 
tion of another German ship — one whose flames 
had at last reached her powder magazine. 

All night the British fleet remained in those 
waters, hoping against hope that the enemy in- 
tended to return with the opening of another day 
to settle the question of superiority in a decisive 
manner. But when morning dawned only their 
own ships were to be seen. The German vessels 
had gone into Wilhelmshaven Harbor, soundly 
trounced, and quite ready to stay there till the 
end of the war if going out again meant another 
set-to with the English bulldogs of the sea. 

During the course of the war, Germany, as 
with other losses, carefully concealed the real 
damage she had suffered in this fight off the banks 
of Jutland. She claimed a loss of only eleven 
ships, whereas subsequent events have shown 
the number to be not less than eighteen. On the 
other hand, Great Britain frankly admitted her 
own loss of fifteen ships. 

Thereafter the German fleet remained in seclu- 
sion. It was the first and last great naval battle 
of the World War. 

THE END 



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